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How can we prepare the way for Christmas? Sometimes it is certain traditions, meals, Christmas movies. As a kid, one of our family’s favorite Christmas movies was White Christmas with Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye.  It just became a tradition to watch it every year. I know most of the lines, the songs, the flubs they never edited. So when Eric and I started dating he had never seen it. 

One night we all sat down to watch it and at the end, I waited for Eric to say WOW that was amazing.  He just looked at all of us and said, "so there really was no discussion of Christmas until the very last song?" Wait What!?!  He was right. None of us never even noticed that. It is easy for us to know a story so well yet we miss a huge part of it that we thought was there the whole time.  

As we head into Christmas this week.  Is there something we are missing?  Not another gift, grandma’s jello recipe or do we need another 1,000 twinkle lights on the house.  No, I am talking about the preparation of our Hearts but preparing ourselves for the birth of Christ. So often we rush toward the holiday and completely miss it.  In today's episode, we are going to walk through what God was doing before the angel Gabriel talked to Mary, before Joseph and she made their journey before the hark the herald angels sang to the shepherds. How did God prepare the way for Jesus to be born? And How can we prepare the way for ourselves this year?

Merry Christmas to you and I hope you can see Jesus in every area of your Holiday.  I will leave  you with my favorite quote I found this week while studying the life of Zecharias and Elizabeth:

"Zacharias was praising God not for the YES to his own desires, but the YES to all of Humanity’s redemption.” 
Tara Leigh Cobble - The Bible Recap

Reflection Question

Which of these areas is where you want to take a next step for this week?

1. How to Prepare the way of YET at Christmas

•Define your yet. 

•setting expectations of God’s timing not yours.

2. How to Prepare the way for Christmas if you have unbelief

•By reading your Bible – this story through Jesus' birth

•Asking the question, do I have this story in my head, or is it living in my heart?

3. How to Prepare the way for Christmas with JOY

•See the joy and share it

•Celebrate others like Elizabeth’s community did 

Reading Zechariah’s song 

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