The Gift of Advent Ache
Welcome to the Overflow! And merry (almost) Christmas to you!
Whether you’re an old friend or a new one, I’m glad you’re here. This is a place where faith is spilled and souls are filled. I hope you’ll make yourself at home and stay a while. If you like what you find, feel free to sign up on the side bar to receive a trickle of inspiration in your in-box each month. Of course, we can also connect on Facebook or Twitter.
Better yet, we could meet face to face! I’m now scheduling speaking engagements for 2019, and I’d be delighted to bring a message of encouragement to a ministry event near you. (If you’d like to know more, contact me at overflow@aliciabruxvoort.net)
Today I’m over at Proverbs 31 talking about how ours hearts can quake on a silent night, and why we have hope even when the quiet clamors loud. If you haven’t had a chance to read it, you can find it here. But before you go, can we be honest?
Sometimes the most wonderful time of the year doesn’t feel so wonderful. When we slow our feet and still our souls, we often notice a quiet ache that runs parallel to the season’s merriment and mirth. We may be tempted to run from it or hide it, but what if we received it as a gift, instead? What if we let that throbbing hurt spawn hope…
December has bulged with must-do’s and don’t-forgets, with lists that linger long and nights that wane short.
And as Christmas creeps close, my heart hovers somewhere between hurry and hope; expectancy and exhaustion.
I want to drink deeply of this sacred season. But I feel drained and dry.
I want to marvel like the shepherds and worship like the wisemen. But I feel apathetic instead of awestruck; weary instead of winsome.
A new day hovers over the horizon like a prayer and a promise. And I feel it keen and sore-a subtle churning in the depths of my soul. A pang of pain. An Advent ache.
This yuletide yearning used to unravel me.
It a dissident chord in the joyous carol of Christmastime; a stumbling step in December’s delicate dance.
It’s a broken hallelujah in a season that is supposed to be merry and bright. Why does my heart feel heavy when I have so many reasons to rejoice? I’m tempted to bury the swelling sadness with busy-ness or quell its cries with noise.
But as I sit in the quiet and pay attention to the ache, I realize that it’s not just a nagging song of grief or a throbbing thrum of disappointment. It’s a a wordless reminder that we were made for more.
As believers in Jesus, we are waiting for more.
Advent means coming, and the ache comes to remind us that Christmas isn’t the end; it’s the overture.
The Light of the World came wrapped in wrinkled baby skin on a Christmas night long ago. He walked to the cross in our place and conquered the grave for our sake. Yet this broken world still weeps and the shadows of darkness still creep. Cancer keeps ravishing and hurt keeps swelling; injustice keeps crooning and hate keeps welling.
And when we fix our eyes on all that’s wrong in the world, we can quickly forget that we have a Savior who is coming back to make it right.
That Advent ache comes as a gift to remind us that the Christmas story isn’t complete.
The Word wrapped in wrinkles. Salvation draped in skin. That’s where the hoopla begins. But that’s not where our hope ends.
Jesus surrendered the throne of Heaven so He could step into the throes of earth. And Bethlehem’s story is just the prelude to His impending glory.
For all of creation is waiting, yearning for the time when the children of God will be revealed. You see, all of creation has collapsed into emptiness, not by its own choosing, but by God’s. Still He placed within it a deep and abiding hope that creation would one day be liberated from its slavery to corruption and experience the glorious freedom of the children of God…Though we have already tasted the first fruits of the Spirit, we are longing for the total redemption of our bodies that comes when our adoption as children of God is complete—for we have been saved in this hope and for this future. But hope does not involve what we already have or see. For who goes around hoping for what he already has? But if we wait expectantly for things we have never seen, then we hope with true perseverance and eager anticipation. (Romans 8:19-24)
Immanuel may have entered the world with a baby’s cry on a silent night long ago, but in the blink of an eye, He will return with a trumpet’s peal. And the Advent ache comes at Christmas time to remind us that the story isn’t over. Our Savior is coming back.
It will all happen so fast, in a blink, a mere flutter of the eye. The last trumpet will call, and the dead will be raised from their graves with a body that does not, cannot decay. All of us will be changed (I Corinthians 15:52)
So go ahead and embrace the Advent ache…
Don’t ignore it. Don’t stuff it.
Don’t quiet it with holiday hype.
Acknowledge it. Receive it.
And unwrap it as a precious gift.
Because one day, when that Bethlehem babe arrives as conquering King, our Advent ache will turn into eternal awe.
And our yuletide yearning will give way to unhindered praise.
“Yes. I am coming soon. To which we say, ‘Amen. Come, Lord Jesus'” -Revelation 22:20
Merry Christmas, dear friends!
Today, I’m giving away this lovely watercolor print by Natalie Frank, owner of Etsy’s Bloom to Brush store.For a chance to win this piece of art, just leave us a comment today and let us know how we can pray for you this Christmas season.
I would like for you to pray for peace in my heart and for me to listen to God in the stillness he provides in my day. Thank you!
Please pray for my father-in-law, Al. He is 89 and in the hospital with bladder problems. Could be an infection, or something worse. Please pray for my daughter, single parent of a sweet girl with special needs. Help her to make it on her own. Please give her the strength and wisdom to deal with her hostile, hateful ex. Help this divorce and continuing tension and hatred to not bring her down. Walk with her, Lord, and help her to rise up, on wings of eagles! Please pray for her daughter (my granddaughter), who has to be with her father and his abusive girlfriend from Christmas Day through the entire Christmas break. It’s hard not to worry. Please pray that I can trust God, and that my daughter can trust God, to get us all safely through this very difficult season of her life. Thank you for your prayers and encouragement!
Thank you so much for the poignant reminder that Jesus is the ‘Reason for the Season’. Such a refreshing message. Please pray for my family members that do not (yet!) have a personal, intimate relationship with God. Please join me in praying that I would be pliable in God’s hands, transparent in word and deed, so that God might powerfully touch my family members – and cause them to turn their hearts toward Him, and seek Him with all their strength, that they might experience fellowship and communion with Him all the remaining days of their earthly lives. Amen.
I have an unspoken request.
I shan’t share the details as they are deeply embedded into my heart and are known by the Savior.
Though, I do cherish the lifting up of any request on my behalf by my sisters! Thank you!
This was so encouraging. Please pray for my 15 year old daughter as she needs to come back to God. And pray for my dad who has cancer
Please pray for my sons salvation (One of the Most Precious Gifts a Mama could receive)
Pray that I can keep focused on Christ this Christmas and not allow the busyness and work take away the wonder of this season. Pray against depression!
Please pray for my son as he is struggling to make some life decisions.
I wish for peace in my soul from the Lord, instead of the anxiety of feeling like there’s more that needs to be done. And trying to please everyone. Thank you for this wonderful devotion today, Alicia. It touched my heart. And I’m going to share it, and even ask my pastor if he can turn it into a sermon sometime!
I’d appreciate prayers to put my expectations in God’s hands, and not let disappointment drown out my Hope this Christmas. I tend to build up hopes for a perfect time with family, and then am very disappointed when disagreements arise or kids don’t behave. Thank you for praying!!
I would be so grateful if you could pray for myself and my family ‘s division. All we seem to do is fuss and fight to the point of division that Never seems to get better, just worse. I dream of a reunion especially with my children and grandchildren filled with closeness, love and peace. Thank you and Merry Christmas!!
Please pray for my sister who lost her house in a tornado that swept through our towm 3 weeks ago. Thank you.
Alicia this is the first time I have read your blog and It is so Inspiring! And the picture is beautiful! This morning I go for an extensive biopsy to find out if I have breast cancer. Results will be delayed because of Christmas :/ Only my husband and one friend ,who is a survivor know as I didn’t want my grown children or sweet Mom to worry needlessly in the waiting . Although anxious, like Mary, I am pondering all this in my heart and trying not to fear what might be. The beauty of it is,that God is in the waiting! He has promised to be with me no matter what the future holds. This season reminds me that my Emmanuel is holding my hand . I truly appreciate your prayers ❤️
I want to feel Christmas joy, but all I feel are “if only” and I whish”. Feelings of loss. Thank you for your words here. I will keep them and re-read them.
Thank you for sharing your heart with us. My prayer request is for reconciliation between a son and the Lord first, and then with other family members. Thank you
My mother has been struggling with declining health and I often encourage her with the hope of heaven. Since she has fallen, her confidence has been very shaky. My husband and I live with her and we are doing well because of much prayer support. But, we need prayer continuously. Thank you!
I came over from P31 and love it hear too. Thanks for the words this morning. Pray my thoughts will be gracious and that my mouth follows suit.
To find peace.
I pray for my daughter’s hearts to be reached, touched, healed and relationship restored first with Jesus and then with me. I pray Isaiah 61:1-3… Set these captives free, bring joy and light into our darkness.
We have an important meeting today about one of our businesses. Please pray for sound mind and judgement, for God’s will to be done, and for doors to open and close accordingly. Thank you!
Please pray for my mother. We just found out this week that she has colon cancer. She’ll have surgery two days after Christmas. Thank you.
A couple of months ago I moved to a new city (where I do not have any friends or family). It’s a learning experience. I am staying in the city for the holidays and hope not to overthink it too much when it comes to spend them alone. So I would appreciate prayers that the time will pass better than I anticipate :).
Thank you.
I will be undergoing Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy soon to treat severe radiation damage in my body. Eight years cancer-free, but for the grace of God! Pray that God will use this therapy to heal my body to such an extent that it boggles even the doctors minds. May God be glorified!!!
Thank you so much for the encouragement & prayer. I am homebound and you Proverbs 31 ladies have truly been used by our God to help one lonely little lady!!!
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!
I too did hyperbaric treatment in 2010. When I went thru a double mastectomy for my 2nd breast cancer
Diagnosis. God opened every door. It was a real miracle it was detected do to the radiation burns. The hyperbaric treat healed my full hand size hole 4 inch deep wound on my right side were the breast was removed. 70 treatments and Gods Grace I was able to finialy get my chemo treatment. I’m thankful everyday to be a 2 time survivor!
I’ll pray for healing outcome Geralyn. Merry Christmas 🎄
We are so Blessed to lay our problems at the Foot of The Cross!
Lynn Green
Thank you for praying, My heart aches for a desire close to my heart. May a Christmas miracle happen
Thank you for praying for me.
Currently I’m stayin g in an attic that has no heat in a house where my sister is an alcoholic. Ive been here since Aug 31.when my home was foreclpsed.
On January 2 we will both need another place to live and I don’t want to live with her. Receiving disability from.Social.Security my income for rent is slim. Pray for deliverance for my sister.
I love her but don’t want to live with ber.
Thank you.
Please pray for my children. I have 4 of them. Only one is walking in the truth he was raised in. Pray especially for our daughter, Alyssa. She has chosen a path of evil with a boy who is a sociopath and very dangerous. Our hearts are broken this Christmas season over her and her devastating choices.
Your words so encourage me. You honesty and openness touch the strings of my heart to see and feel God’s love more. Blessings to you!
Please pray for my son James to go to rehab for his drug addiction and please pray for my relationship with my grandkids especially my oldest granddaughter Jordan I never see them or hear from them and I helped raise Jordan it hurts