• Home
  • Our Story
  • Speaking
  • 100 Days with Christ
  • Contact Me

True and Faithful

  • Grief & Healing
    • 31 Days Braving the Broken
    • Grief Resources
    • Beginning Again
  • Faith Everyday
    • Faith Stories
    • Soul Keeping
  • Mom Life
    • Parenting Children through Grief
    • Holidays
  • Bible Study
    • Gratitude
  • Books
    • Book Recs
  • About

How to Have Joy When Christmas is Hard

By Lisa Appelo 26 Comments

Here is the ONE thing we did to bring JOY when Christmas was hard.

Most of the world enters December with excitement and anticipation. Christmas is a month of lights and decorating, events and parties, festive food, presents and family.

But for so many, the holidays are not merry and bright. When Christmas is hard, it’s another stark reminder of who is missing and all that has changed.

I remember how my heart sank four years ago at the thought of facing our first Christmas without Dan. I so wanted it to be a happy time for my family and I so wanted to make good memories for my children. But how in the world could we muster any kind of excitement? Our life had turned inside out and we were in deep grief.

We desperately needed joy. We needed something that would help us not just get through the days but something that would help us enjoy them.

And so, that Christmas four years ago, we started a new tradition. We called it Days of Joy and our goal was to find a way to bless someone else each day. Somehow we knew enough to realize that by God’s design, a huge key to finding joy for ourselves again was to serve others.

That Christmas became marked by intention to bless others.  We celebrated Days of Joy through acts of blessing. We didn’t do it every day; I didn’t want it to become a chore itself. But throughout the month, we purposely looked for ways to bring joy to others.

On one of the very first days, we set a cooler of sodas and a plate of chocolate chip cookies by the curb early one morning and watched from the window as our trash collectors stopped their huge truck, got out to read my children’s note and then emptied that cooler, swooped up the cookies and loaded back into the truck.

Setting out sodas and cookies for our trash collectors to bring JOY in a hard Christmas.

You know what? It worked. It was like a shot of pure joy and we began to look for other ways to bless. We wrapped presents for Toys for Tots, gave away outgrown coats, put together bags for the homeless and wrote letters to our Compassion child.

We were hooked. This Days of Joy thing was working better than I could have imagined.  It didn’t mean we didn’t grieve. We still cried plenty and we still grieved and missed Dan intensely.

There was pain, but there was also joy. In the hardest and saddest days we’d ever known, we were fighting for joy.  Each act of blessing helped us smile, see needs outside of our family, and deepen our compassion. We did make memories. I will forever remember that first hard Christmas as a tender time where we chased hard after joy.

Days of Joy CFA

A two fer: we gave to Toys for Tots and Chick-fil-A blessed us with chicken sandwiches.

Days of Joy homeless packages

Packing bags to hand out to homeless. These lasted for months.

Today we start our fourth December celebrating Days of Joy.  We’ll sit down and plan some ways that we can show joy to someone else.

But, this year I want to add something else in. This year, I want to teach my kids still at home to follow God’s spontaneous prompting to bless someone. That kind of service can’t be calendared.

It means we’ll have to open our ears to hear and be ready to obey. It might mean interruptions. It might stretch us and I sure hope it will surprise us.

If you’d like to celebrate Days of Joy this month, I have some prints to share with you! I made note cards to hand out this year. Whether we sign our name or give anonymously, I want to attach a handwritten note to tell them why we’re doing it.

For behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior who is Christ the Lord. Luke 2:10-11

May this season bring great joy to you. If you’re going through a hard Christmas, I pray that God will surprise you with joy in the midst of the hard as He carries you through this season.

Printable Notes to bring Days of Joy to someone this Christmas! (when Christmas is hard)

Click HERE to download the Printable Days of Joy note cards.

If you’d like to know when new posts are up, I’d love for you to subscribe here. 

 

Share249
Tweet3
Pin483
Share
735 Shares

Filed Under: Holidays

Countdown to Christmas e-book:: Available Now!

By Lisa Appelo 11 Comments

 

Unwrap the real story of Christmas with this 15-day Christmas devotional and your own nativity set.

I’m so excited to share this new Advent resource with you today!

Last year, I created a 15-day Advent Nativity Activity that grew out of my desire to help my family focus on Jesus at Christmas.

I matched scripture with the standard pieces of a Nativity set and each day, for 15 days, we read Bible verse or passage and then added the corresponding piece to our Nativity scene.

We loved it! My kids loved it! I pinned it to my Pinterest board and it’s been repinned thousands of times since. (You can get the free scripture printable below.)

Cue the confetti, because the Countdown to Christmas Nativity activity is now a book!

Countdown to Christmas: Unwrap the Christmas Story with Your Family in 15 Days is written for families who want a Christ-centered, hands-on Advent tradition.

Countdown to Christmas takes you step by step through the Christmas story, starting with prophecies foretelling the birth of Jesus all the way through the visit of the Magi. They focus on Christ and the gospel as the incredible love story of God’s plan to be with us and redeem us is unwrapped over 15 days.

As a busy mom of many, I wrote it to be open and go, to deepen my teens’ understanding and application of the events of Jesus’ birth while engaging my littles with hands on fun.

Because the Advent devotional covers 15 days rather than 25, you have margin for the office Christmas party and choir cantata rehearsal. Start Countdown to Christmas on December 1 using the days convenient for your family or begin 15 days before Christmas.

Unwrap the real story of Christmas with this 15-day Christmas devotional and your own nativity set.What Kind of Nativity to Use

You don’t have to have a manger scene to use the Countdown to Christmas Advent devotional. The Advent devotional, scriptures and prayers can stand alone as a wonderful Advent celebration.

However, the hands-on fun of creating the manger scene piece by piece creates lasting memories and engages the whole family in the events of the Christmas story.

If you’re using this with small children, choose a Nativity that’s sturdy and non-breakable so you can display it at your child’s eye-level and their little hands can play with it.

The Nativity pieces used in the Countdown to Christmas Advent book and the Nativity activity scripture printable are:

  • the Creche (stable)
  • a palm tree
  • cattle
  • Mary
  • Joseph
  • donkey
  • manger
  • baby Jesus
  • shepherd
  • angel
  • sheep
  • star
  • 3 wise men

15-day advent nativity activity and e-book

Ready to Get Started?

Get your copy of  Countdown to Christmas: Unwrap the Christmas Story with Your Family in 15 Days  here.

When you subscribe to email, I’ll send a FREE copy of the Nativty activity scriptures list.

*This post contains affiliate links.

 

Share44
Tweet
Pin7K
Share
7K Shares

Filed Under: Holidays

Sneak Peek at my new Christmas book!

By Lisa Appelo 8 Comments

I feel like I need confetti. I’ve been working on a new Christmas e-book that I’m excited to unveil today! The Countdown to Christmas:15-day Advent Nativity Activity is a wonderful resource for your family this Christmas season. I used this material with my own family last year and we loved it!

Each day, we read a portion of scripture about the birth of Jesus and then we added one piece to our nativity set that reflected that scripture. This year, I wrote a book that includes a daily  discussion of the passage and weaves together Old Testament prophecies, description about the land and times of Jesus and background information on people and places like the shepherds and magi.  It’s written for families and I enjoyed it as much as my kids. 🙂

It’s available today on Amazon and I’m giving you a sneak peek, but tomorrow it will be FREE!  I’m super excited to share this resource with you and super excited it will be available FREE starting tomorrow so mark the date and come back for the links and information tomorrow! For now, here’s a picture of the new e-book Countdown to Christmas: a 15-day Advent Nativity Activity.

Unwrap the Christmas story with your children using this 15-day advent Nativity Activity. Add one piece to your manger scene each day and read the corresponding scripture along with the book's narrative.

P.S. If you’d like to know when new posts are up, you can subscribe here and join us on Facebook for even more encouragement in your day. 

*This post contains affiliate links.

Share12
Tweet
Pin
Share
12 Shares

Filed Under: Bible Study, Book Recs, Books & Resources, Holidays

Psalm 1 Printable and Father’s Day Card

By Lisa Appelo 23 Comments

blessed is the man frame

I’ve started and erased this opening paragraph a dozen times.  Possibly because I’ve written all day and I’m out of words but more than likely it’s because of swirling emotions.

I’ve always liked Father’s Day. I have a great dad who has rooted me in love and security. He has loved and cherished my mom, a love that gets more beautiful as they age. And in these last four years, he has gone over and above for my children and me. So I look forward to honoring him this Sunday.

But this week will also mark four years since Dan’s death. This is causing the swirl. At four years out I feel less fearful, less broken, more grounded, more hopeful.

A huge part of my grief though has been for my children. In the weeks following his death, I remember thinking, “I’m an adult. I’ve had him for 26 years; I can take this.” But my children? How I have grieved my children’s irreplaceable loss.

And then in the middle of these thoughts, Father’s Day brings me back to the boys I’m raising, and the kind of men and dads they’ll be. “Years don’t make you mature,” I’ve said lately. “Integrity and self-control make you mature.”

I keep coming back to one verse. Psalm 1 is the verse I have prayed over my boys (and girls) since they were little.  I want them to be men who choose to follow hard after God, who know scripture and who keep it no matter what culture says men should be doing.

Of course my wanting it won’t make it happen. They’ve got to put down the roots. But I want them to know this is what we’ve aimed for all these years.

These three generations . . . a father who has loved well; a husband and man’s man who authentically walked out Psalm 1; and five boys who I pray will pick up that legacy and walk it into the next decades.

In honor of Father’s Day and growing boys to men, I’m sharing a Psalm 1 Scripture print. Two sizes are available: 8 x 10 or 5 x 7.  I’ve framed the 8 x 10 for my boys’ room and I’m using the 5 x 7 as a Father’s Day card. (It would also make a great graduation or birthday card.) Click the link below the picture to download your free print. Enjoy friends! Thank you for visiting and feel free to print and share to your heart’s content.

Blessed is the man printable for boy's room or card!*Graphics used with permission from the creative We Lived Happily Ever After.

Click here for the 5 x 7 (set printer to landscape). Click here for 8 x 10 (set printer for portrait).

If you’d like encouragement delivered right to your inbox, subscribe here and I’ll send my FREE 100 Days with Christ Bible plan and journal.

Share54
Tweet4
Pin1K
Share
1K Shares

Filed Under: Family Life, Holidays, Print Library

A Maundy Thursday Prayer

By Lisa Appelo Leave a Comment

ben washing feet

Maundy Thursday is the Thursday before Easter. Its name comes from the Latin mandatum which means command.

It’s the day we remember a new command for all believers.

“Love one another as I have loved you.”

Honestly, sometimes it feels easier to follow Jesus, to trust Jesus, than to love others as Jesus loves us.

When my flesh wants to declare my rights and my cause, when my feelings are put out and prickled, the last thing I want to do is love the other person like Jesus loves.

Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love.

Jesus, being in very nature God, bent to wash the grimy, sweaty feet of men. Picking up a pitcher of water and towel, the Creator waited on the created.

When has a king ever served his subjects?

.      .      .

“Do you understand what I have done for you?” he asked them. “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am.  Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet.
I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.  I tell you the truth, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them. [John 13:1, 12 – 17]

We can only be fully satisfied by loving the way Jesus loved.

Not with easy words but with humble actions.

The kind of actions that may never be noticed.

Oh Lord, you call me to wash feet and serve in the hard and the messy. You call me to serve others without glamour and without acclaim. You call me to leave the table where I might be served and to do for others instead. And not just to serve those who love me. You ask me to serve my enemies with equal compassion and humility. Lord, you know this is not my nature.  You know how I seek the comfortable and the lovely and the self-affirming. But you have not only modeled it; you’ve command it.  “Now that you know these things.” Now we know. Knowing isn’t so hard. It’s the doing. Help me, Lord, to do. And, amazingly, when obedience feels like it costs so much, you promise instead blessing.

Share
Tweet
Pin
Share
0 Shares

Filed Under: Holidays, Soul Keeping

  • « Previous Page
  • 1
  • …
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • 6
  • Next Page »

Get this FREE Bible study

Read the 4 gospels like never before as you walk through the life & ministry of Christ chronologically. Click to learn more!

Get your FREE copy!

Join Me Here!

  • Bloglovin
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter

Join Me on Instagram!

Join Me on Instagram!


Get your FREE copy here!

Read the 4 gospels like never before as you chronologically read through the life & ministry of Jesus.

Copyright

Copyright and all rights reserved.

Search True and Faithful

Copyright © 2019 · Lifestyle Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in