Advent Day 4

"Advent comes with an unbearable weight, the expectation of Christ coming...

We have work to do. The season of Advent offers an opportunity to prepare not only our homes for the Christmas season, but our hearts for the second Advent. We must remain awake, faithful and focused, even when the temptation to hibernate presses in. Wakefulness requires a conscious effort to be present, even in our distraction and weariness. Advent invites us to hold on. We cannot afford to sleep though our lives." ~Kris Camealy, Come, Lord Jesus, p19-20

"And then they will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds with great power and glory." Mark 13:26

Resources:
Come, Lord Jesus: The Weight of Waiting by Kris Camealy. Available at Amazon.
Come, Lord Jesus Advent Book Club at Creative and Free.
Visit my church's website where we are offering a weekly Advent theme devotion and resources on our blog: Grace Church 

Advent Day 3

"The experience of knowing Jesus enriches our hearts and lives completely. In Him, we lack nothing. In this season of want, as we await His coming, we remember that our lives are rich with grace because of Christ, who did come, who lived among the people, who lives among us still. He makes His home in the hearts of those who love Him, however imperfectly we may live that out. We lack nothing because in Christ we have everything. His truth and glory revealed to us not only in Advent, but in the everyday moments of our lives, remind us that it is He who sustains us as we wait for His return." Kris Camealy, Come, Lord Jesus, p16.

Resources:
Come, Lord Jesus: The Weight of Waiting by Kris Camealy. Available at Amazon.
Come, Lord Jesus Advent Book Club at Creative and Free.
Visit my church's website where we are offering a weekly Advent theme devotion and resources on our blog: Grace Church Toledo.

Advent Day 2

"Restore us, O Lord God Almighty; make your face shine upon us, that we may be saved."          Psalm 80:19

"During the hustle of Advent our needs become vividly apparent. In our weariness of struggling to prepare our homes, and our hearts, we hunger to be heard, to be restored, to be saved.

Save us, restore us. These words spoken in contrition lead to healing and restoration. These are the foundational layers of repentance - the recognition that our salvation and restoration cannot come from within." ~Kris Camealy, Come, Lord Jesus, p12.

My altered press board report cover journal.

Resources:
Come, Lord Jesus: The Weight of Waiting by Kris Camealy. Available at Amazon.
Come, Lord Jesus Advent Book Club at Creative and Free.
Visit my church's website where we are offering a weekly Advent theme devotion and resources on our blog: Grace Church Toledo.

Advent Day 1

Waiting has been on my mind a lot since I first read Kris Camealy's new Advent book, Come, Lord Jesus, back in September. In fact, I have been immersed in Advent on and off for the past three months, as I have participated in Kris' pre-launch group and prepared my journal in advance for blog posts this month. Three months of immersion in Advent and the topic of waiting has been a good thing -  a good companion as I wrestle with some areas in my life that I have been praying for God to breakthrough. Kris' book has helped me have a mindset shift enabling me to view in new ways how God uses waiting in our lives to shape and form us. Perhaps this is part of Advent's purpose each year.

"Oh, that you would rend the Heavens and come down..." Isaiah 64:1

"God has been working from the beginning, from the very first exile, on the hearts of His people. Tenderly, sometimes fiercely, God puts His finger into the hole left in the hearts of man, not to injure but to heal. But His healing hurts. We shrink back, turn around and like the ostrich, plunge our shame-filled heads into the quicksand of life. We live desert seasons, unwilling or unable to face the repentance God calls us to. We imagine that God is hiding from us, but it's we who have turned our hearts away and hidden our faces. It's we who have crossed our arms in defiance. When at last we awaken to our sin, when we see the ways it has manipulated our hearts, the cry comes from our lips - come, Lord Jesus. In our awakening, we see that God has been doing "things we did not look for" all along (Isaiah 64:3). He has always been acting "for those who wait for Him" (Isaiah 64:4)."        ~Kris Camealy, p. 7-8.

"Since ancient times no one has heard,

no ear has perceived,

no eye has seen any God besides you,

who acts on behalf of those

who wait for him."

Isaiah 64:4

Resources:
Come, Lord Jesus: The Weight of Waiting by Kris Camealy. Available at Amazon.
Come, Lord Jesus Advent Book Club at Creative and Free.
Visit my church's website where we are offering a weekly Advent theme devotion and resources on our blog: Grace Church Toledo.

Advent Art Journal Tutorial

I have a "thing" for office supplies. Walking into an office supply store or a paper store is a little slice of heaven! So over the years I have combined that "thing" with my other "thing" ... art journaling. That combination of "things" appears in my Advent art journal this year. This summer while hunting vintage items with my sister, I came across some wonderful old pressboard report covers. I purchased them and stuck them away for a future project. Amazingly while in the midst of a creative slump, I got the inspiration to make a journal out of them and use it for my Advent project this year.

I began Advent rather early this year as I had the opportunity in August to join Kris Camealy's pre-launch group for her newest book, Come, Lord Jesus, which is a daily Advent devotion. Using Kris' book, which has 25 devotions, I will make an art journal page each day through the Advent season. My journal has pages set-up that open like a Dutch door.

There are 12 pages that are decorated on each side which will give me 24 pages to use for daily art. I intend to use the inside of the back cover for my entry on Christmas day. As I said a few weeks ago (in this post), I had some report covers left and decided to make a tutorial of my art journal and offer a few limited edition kits for sale. The tutorial is now available on this site. Click on the tutorials link in the menu above. I have a few of the kits left after initially offering them on my previous blog post. They come with a choice of cover paper: A (Christmas pinwheels) or B (winterberries).

Each kit contains a pressboard report cover, the papers to cover the covers, the mini prongs which make the dutch doors, 14 pieces of vintage book pages for the background papers, and a print-out of the tutorial. You can purchase a kit in my Etsy shop. Journey with me through the Advent season beginning November 27 as I make art based on quotes and Scripture from Kris' book.

In the Waiting - Guest Post for Kris Camealy

Yesterday I had the privilege to write a guest post on Kris Camealy's blog for her new book, Come, Lord Jesus. I have been a member of her pre-launch team for the past few months, reading the book in advance, and now promoting it here on my blog. Pop over to Kris' blog to read my post. But don't forget to come back here to read about my Advent plans!

For a number of years I have used art journaling to help me slow down the Christmas season and really immerse myself in the Advent experience. I will generally use an online devotion or book as my prompts and then make art in my Advent journal as a response. This year I intend to use Kris' book of daily devotions. 

I have made an art journal for Advent in one of my favorite manners: I altered an office supply item. I took a pressboard report cover and altered it's layout to make pages that open like a dutch door does.

I have had a blast making this journal and using Kris' book for my art prompts. You can follow along on my blog. I'll post daily beginning on the first day of Advent, November 27. I am also going to offer a free tutorial on how to make this type of journal. It will be available here on my blog a week or so before Advent begins. PLUS, I have enough materials left to offer a few limited edition kits for this journal. The kits will  include a pressboard report cover, the paper to cover the covers (in a choice of two patterns), the mini prongs which make the dutch doors, 14 pieces of vintage book pages for the background papers, and the instructions on how to make the book.

All of this for $12.00! As I said, the kits will be available in my Etsy shop probably in the next week or so. I currently have 9 available and may have 5 more in addition to those. The number I have available is based on the cover paper I have on hand. If you are interested in claiming a kit in advance of the release of them in my shop then send me an email at marybrack@gmail.com.

If you are interested in reading Come, Lord Jesus through Advent there is also a four-week Advent book club taking place on Christina Hubbard's website, Creative and Free, beginning November 27.  I plan to participate in the book club as well as my art journal.

So, those are my plans for Advent this year! Check out Kris Cameally's blog. If you go back over the past few weeks you can read what other guest writers have to say about the book and about waiting on God in general. Watch here for the release of both the Advent journal tutorial and the journal kits in my Etsy shop. Plus, why not take a minute and share with me in the comment section below how you slow down and experience the Advent season. What are your Advent traditions?