What are you hoping for this Christmas? Shawna is hoping for good rest. What she really needs is God rest. Rest for her soul! It’s the gift God wants to give you!

After a life-time of trial and error Perry is convinced, “My performance will never get me the verdict that I’m a good person.” There is only one way to get that longed-for verdict.

Sometimes we choose to take matters into our own hands rather than trusting God. Because of a traumatic experience with her daughter’s dog, Shawna vowed never to buy green grapes ever again! Vows are ways of baking into our hearts, “God, I don’t really trust you.”

During the last 3 years of Perry’s mom’s life, she descended into the fog of some dementia. At she began the descent, she admitted to Perry’s dad, “I just don’t think I want to go on living.” But then 8 words from Jesus gave her the strength to go on. 

“I don’t need you to rescue me!” comes from deep within Shawna. She resisted every offer for help when she got stuck in the ditch during a snowstorm even though there was no way she would get out on her own. Rescue starts with laying down our pride.

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Jesus came to us as a baby at Christmas time. And Jesus still comes intimately close to us now.

Sometimes He comes into the darkness reminding us that He is the Light of the World. 

Steve Norman of Winning at Home & host of The New Norm Podcast has written a devotional to help us ready our hearts to celebrate Jesus’ coming. It’s called Countdown to Christmas.

At a time when he was sitting in physical darkness and feeling ashamed, Jesus came to Steve through the words of his 4-year-old son singing, “This Little Light of Mine.”

As Steve was hitting the wall in the 17th mile of a marathon he was ill-prepared to run, Jesus ran next to him through words of encouragement from fellow runners.

Jesus comes and meets us where we are. Eugene Peterson says in The Message “The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood.”

Jesus is Immanuel, God with us!

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That’s what the last couple years for Perry has felt like. Starting in 2021 with a 90% blockage in his Widow-Maker artery. But Perry can honestly say, “I’m thankful for every hardship.” What??  It’s because of what God does in us through our suffering. That he can’t do any other way.

For some, Christmas is not the most wonderful time of the year. Shawna asked a friend how she could pray for her and she immediately teared up. Jesus, Immanuel, Joy of the world, is with us in our sadness too.

Perry and Shawna listener Brian texted them in September saying, “Please pray for me, I have a really bad disease.” And 3 months later Brian was gone. Perry went to pay his respects this past Monday and as he walked back to his car it felt like death was on him like a heavy blanket. The blanket lifted as he thought of some words of hope from Aslan!

Everything seems bigger at Christmastime. The good things seem better. The hardships seem greater. Christmas doesn’t create our problems or improve our lives – it simply amplifies what already is. Christmas was never intended to magnify us. This Christmas let’s magnify the One Christmas is all about.

Before Perry was 25, God had blessed him with some amazing open doors for the Kingdom. And then, that season was over and he found himself cleaning toilets. Super humbling. It wasn’t anything Perry had chosen. But for Jesus he gave up all his glory willingly, for us!

Jesus’ birth was not His beginning. He always has been and always will be. Jesus came to give us eternal life. Only an eternal being could offer an eternal gift.

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This painfully describes the journey of the Jewish people. From the destruction of the Temple, and Jerusalem in 70 AD, the journey has been brutal. Perry first asks Middle East expert Charlie Dyer:

“What happened with the Jews between Jerusalem’s destruction by the Romans in 70 AD and their restoration to the land in 1948?” It’s a profound flyover of that long and torturous journey.

Dr. Charlie Dyer, Middle East scholar at Moody Bible institute and the host of The Land and the Book on Moody Radio has authored a ton of books including an revised version of Who Owns the Land—An In-Depth Look at the Truth Behind the Middle East Conflict.

Shawna then asks, “Why should we expect non-believers to accept God’s promise of the land to Israel?”

Also we hear the story of a Messianic Jew knocking on the door of an Arab Muslim in Tel Aviv who was so hungry to know about Jesus. Pointing to the ultimate hope for the Middle East: The gospel!

And Perry asks Charlie, “If you had the power to make a decision tomorrow about who owns the land and where Jews should live and where Palestinians should live, what would you do?”

Though his answer puts Israel in her land because of God’s promises, it doesn’t include driving out all non-Jews. An answer we actually find in the earlies pages of the bible.

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After years of drug addiction, losing custody of her children, and cycling in and out of prison, Sheaveal hit rock bottom. One night, convinced she’d die from an overdose, she prayed to God. The next morning, she woke up knowing she had been saved.

That same day, she was arrested and spent five and a half years in prison. There, through Prison Fellowship’s Angel Tree program, Sheaveal reconnected with her children and began rebuilding her family.

Today, she works with Angel Tree to help other families heal.

You can be a part of bringing joy to children this Christmas. Deliver a present, the Gospel, and a message of love for a child with a parent in prison by going to Prison Fellowship’s Angel Tree.

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You don’t have to wait till heaven to have all your questions answered! Dr. J joins the team to answer bible questions today.

Dr. Jeremy GrinnelI earned his Ph.D. in Systematic Theology from Calvin Seminary in Grand Rapids, MI, and taught theology in West Michigan for nearly 15 years.

Here’s what Jeremy and the team take on:

Perry and Shawna listener Chris says, “1 John 1:9 tells me that If we confess our sins God will forgive, but there are other passages in 1 John that seem to say there shouldn’t be any sin in my life.  I’m not sinless but I’m worried that I’m supposed to be??”

Also Kristin asks, “If in heaven we are rewarded based on our faithfulness, will there be jealousy for those whose rewards are less than others?”

Also Kudzi asks, “Who changed the 7th day sabbath day to the 1st day? Can that be supported biblically when the initial sabbath day that God had blessed was the 7th day?”

Then, “Joseph is obviously a big part of Jesus’ coming as a baby, but the last mention of him seems to be when he and Mary realized they had left Jesus behind when he was 12. What happened to Joseph?”

Last, Chris asks, “How old is the book of Job?” Jeremy answers this and then brings a ton more insight into the book of Job.

Jeremy answers these questions with the knowledge of a scholar and the heart of one saved by grace.

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Shawna was struggling to love someone abrasive, so she asked God to show her how that person is made in God’s image. And He did!

Dr. Matt Billers, counselor with Winning at Home, shares that different as we are, all of us are made in God’s image. Some of us are thinkers, some feelers, and others, doers. And we connect with God and one another from that place.

In fact, your favorite verse or verses can tell you a lot about your personality and how you connect with God. And knowing that can help you connect with others.

Matt shares how knowing your personality can help you prepare now to deal with the difficult person you’re going to be with this Christmas.

And as we wrap up 2024, Matt offers great wisdom for reflecting with God on this past year and identifying a theme to lean into in 2025.

Also, in this episode, Shawna reflects on all the ways throughout time that God has been with us. It’s consistent with who He is! Though loneliness is a real feeling, it’s not our reality. There is a truer truth!

Lastly, when you don’t have the strength, or the hope to even pray, we get to pray for one another.  Like Moses, when he got tired of raising his arms during the battle and others came alongside him and helped him keep his arms raised, we get to lift up one another in prayer, believing together for breakthrough.

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That was Perry’s impatient response when he was asked by Teresa for some help putting batteries in their Christmas candles. And Perry wonders, “With my little grumbles and my faceplant sins, how will I ever be blameless at the coming of Jesus?”

There are times that - what’s happening inside of us - just has to be spoken. Like when that lady behind you in church shouts, “AMEN!” When we truly understand who God is, when we fix our eyes on Him…His love, His glory, His power… we can’t NOT worship Him.

It was August of 2020, a beautiful backyard wedding for Perry’s son Taylor. And as Bri came down the aisle Taylor began to weep, to marvel. When we see Jesus at his second coming we will marvel, and so will Jesus!

When Shawna hears what God has done for you, she has hope that he could do that for her too. When the angel appeared to Mary and told her that she would become pregnant as a virgin she went from “HOW?” to “May it be to me as you have said.” And the thing in between was a testimony. Somebody who needs hope today, needs to hear your story.

Perry was driving north to Cheboygan on a Christmas Eve in a snowstorm when the reality of Christmas hit him deep. When that happens, we know we’ll give the rest of our lives to serve the Shepherd King of Israel.

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As she was singing the words, “I don’t want anyone else. I don’t need anything else,” the Lord showed Shawna the people and the things that had taken His place in her heart the past few days.  He’s so loving to tell us the truth. Nothing and no one can quench our greatest thirst, only Jesus can.

The show had just started a couple weeks ago, Scott was talking and at that moment the enemy accused Perry an ancient sin. And it rocked him back on his heals. What do we do when that happens?? 

Everyone is going through something. On her knees in her office surrounded by a mess of spilled pomegranate arils, Shawna wanted to cry as she thought, “this is my life right now.” You never know what someone is up against. Be kind today.

A few months back Perry said some honest but angry words to his bride Teresa. They quickly made peace but Perry knew he’d wounded with his words. He went to bed and had a restless night. And in his fitful sleep he had a dream, of grace.

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Perry has been walking with a suffering friend with deep emotional and spiritual pain for 40 years. He longs to feel safe with God but because of his wounds, doesn’t.

Recently Perry told his friend, “You’re going to get better,” and he really believes that. Cause even though God moves slow, not one of his promises will fail.

If Shawna were sitting across the table from Mary before the angel appeared to her she wonders if Mary would’ve  excitedly shared her plans to marry Joseph…who was invited to the wedding, where it was going to be held, and how she envisioned her life going.

Shawna’s sure Mary dreamt of what her life would be like. But upon hearing the news of God’s plan for her life she immediately responded, “I am the Lord’s servant.” How do we respond when God’s plan is different from ours?

Also, maybe you could use a little courage today. Shawna has been inspired by her friend’s courage in the face of relational hardship. God not only commands us to be courageous, He also promises to be with us and gives us a spirit of courage.

And last, singer-songwriter Jason Gray shares how he lost his faith because he thought God would save his marriage, but didn’t. He started making plans for life without God and then this happened.

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