Deveraux Grace

Advent What is joy... joy /joi/ noun a feeling of great pleasure and happiness. " tears of joy " synonyms: delight ,   great pleasure,   joyfulness,   jubilation ,   triumph ,   exultation ,   rejoicing ,   happiness ,   gladness,   glee ,   exhilaration ,   exuberance ,   elation ,   euphoria ,   bliss ,   ecstasy ,   rapture ... verb LITERARY rejoice. So if it is supposed to be a feeling of great pleasure and happiness then why does being joyful  often  feel like work or why does it feel that when we have a truly joyful moment they feel few and far  between...    "Why is joy so important"   "The  importance  of  joy is  laughter,and play which stimulate the release of feel good hormones in our body. It shuts down cortisol, adrenaline, and other health deteriorating processes in the body. Our body can't heal when it's in a state of stress

Advent Week two we are asked to think about peace I also wanted to talk about quiet as well, so first I would tell you the definition of peace and quiet... Peace- freedom from disturbance ; quiet and tranquility Quiet- making little or no noise And yet even with opportunities to take quiet and peaceful moments we either don't and move on to the next thing or we do stop what we are doing but plan the next thing. There is no escaping the future but there is pausing, waiting, and trusting that time will stop long enough for us to take a tiny breather and quiet moment. I find it quite hard to sit, journal, and wait, but all to fast I can read, plan, or even just write so if you have a hard time pausing and being quiet you are not alone. I looked up "how to be quiet" on google search when writing this post, in hopes of a good addition to the blog, and a good addition did I find... How do you stay silent forever? How do you make annoying people be quiet?

Advent love, what is love, love is patience, love is being caring, love is kind, and yet in any season it can be hard to reach which is why we look forward to the Christmas season where all signs point toward loving those around you, so we need to take all the signs and point toward love!! I am very sorry, the Christmas season got swiped away from me and so I was only able to to a short last post today...

Advent Hope... we need hope, the Shepherds in the fields needed hope when faced by a thousand shining angels, Mary needed hope... hoping to get back to her family for the celebration of her newborn son, Joseph needed hope when faced with a very tough decision to marry a teen who was to have possibly the most important baby that ever lived or to say no to God. We need hope this world that we live in is a messy tangled bunch of land and ocean and when all hope is lost, well, we need to look to God. But unfortunately most of the time we chose not to, because school is demanding, work is tiring, or a friend is really hard to deal with, and as soon as we finish that paper, send that email, or text that friend one more time to say that we are busy, then we say we will pray, but then when everything is done, we get tired or it doesn't feel right anymore and we don't pray, we sin everyday all day... this is why we look forward to Jesus's birth when he comes and saves us and

Advent I am thrilled with Christmas… let the angels sing, the more people the merrier, the more parties the better, the calendar with three plans on it well put it in the trash, the planner with more then ten parties sure I’ll keep it but I expect more plans next year, let the jingle bells ring, the sleigh bells sing, I forget traffic, holiday lines, stress, and everything else and I just wrap myself up in the glory that is Christmas! But the thrill of first putting up decorations and first getting out the tree, sad to say will end, in a matter of time seeing the Christmas tree will be well normal the advent calendars, eggnog, and everything else just won’t feel the same, won’t have the same thrill, will become the norm… which is why we need something else to prepare for, to turn our hearts toward, to open up the calendars and dedicate time to listening, enjoying, praying, reading, praising, thanking, and most of all waiting for Jesus to come again. I looked up the definition o