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<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nHi Lucy, it’s so fantastic to have you on the blog today! Tell us a little about yourself.<\/strong> I’m mainly a mum and wife, but when the kids are at school I blog about parenting, adoption and faith over at The Hope Filled Family<\/a>, and write freelance for a number of different organisations. Redeeming Advent is my first book, which is very exciting! Besides writing, I love music, cooking, hospitality, reading and going out with friends, usually for a good meal and a natter. I love to talk! And, most importantly, everything’s better with a good smattering of chocolate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What led you to write this book? Who is this book aimed towards? Having\nnot had much luck sticking to Advent devotionals in previous years, I decided\nto write my own! Each night during Advent I wrote a blog post which was\npublished the next day. To begin with, it was really for me – forcing myself to\nsit down for an hour or so and reflect on what God had taught me that day was\nsuch a helpful spiritual discipline.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But\na few others joined in and read it, and started to ask whether I’d be making it\ninto a book. Lots of editing later, and here we are! So I’d say the book is\naimed towards people like me: busy, busy, busy, with a desire to draw closer to\nGod, but overwhelmed by tasks and commitments. Each day’s reflection begins\nwith a typical December anecdote – wrapping gifts, decorating the house, and so\non – taking the reader from the day they’ve had into the encouragement and\nchallenge of Scripture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It’s\na great read for busy parents, but you don’t have to be a parent to appreciate\nit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I loved reading this book, and found the devotionals warm, funny and To be honest, because it was initially written in a time-pressured\nway, I just had to write the first thing which came to mind each night! I never\nthought I would complete all 24 days, so was pretty chuffed with myself on the\nevening of December 23rd, writing the final reflection for Christmas Eve!<\/p>\n\n\n\n But the challenging part was the editing, which came several\nmonths later, once the book had been accepted for publication by Gilead<\/a>. Because I edited\nduring the really hot months of May-July 2018, thinking and writing about\nAdvent took some effort!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Another challenge was that each of the reflections had\noriginally been a stand-alone blog post. Now that they were going to be made\ninto a book, I had to think very carefully about how to rearrange them so that\nthey made sense from start to finish, leading the reader through a coherent\nAdvent journey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And once I was going through my original blog posts with a fine toothcomb, I found so many sections where I hadn’t followed through with my line of thinking, or where there were too many disparate thoughts being communicated. Tightening these up did not always come easily to me. So many people struggle with the busyness and rush of life, especially One\nof my favourite days is Day 7 ‘What are you actually celebrating?’. The point\nis that yes, we are celebrating Jesus’ birth, but there are so many different\naspects to that, so let’s focus on what we’re particularly grateful for this\nyear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If\nyour life doesn’t offer many opportunities for physically slowing down and\/or being\nstill, it’s possible to find a moment of mental or emotional ‘stillness’ to praise\nGod for what you do <\/em>have. The job\nwhich keeps you busy but which provides an income and a chance to use your\nskills. The children who exhaust you but are a precious gift from God. The\nelderly relatives who are draining your time and energy, but who invested in\nyou as a child.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There’s\nthat phrase ‘living in the moment’, and I think it’s true, but none-the-less\nhard to do! For me, it’s about creating habits of enjoying the peace when it\ncomes – even if it’s only five minutes, or 30 seconds! The habit of saying a\nquick ‘thank you’ prayer, before rushing on with the next job, helps us all to\nfind God in the midst of chaos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For me, it’s about creating habits of enjoying the peace when it comes – even if it’s only five minutes, or 30 seconds! The habit of saying a quick ‘thank you’ prayer, before rushing on with the next job, helps us all to find God in the midst of chaos. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n What would you hope that readers would take away from your book? What\ndoes this look like? For me, it’s three-fold. I hope readers will discover\nsomething new about God, I hope they will discover something new about\nthemselves in relation to God, and I hope they feel encouraged to go into the\nnew year with hope and anticipation at what God might do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Finally, your book is centred around the time of Advent. What does I love the celebratory feel of Advent which is all around us:\nin shops, at school, at work, on the TV. OK, most people aren’t celebrating the\nbirth of Christ, but I think we Christians can redeem the sparkles and the\ncolour to the glory of God – they just make our celebration better!<\/p>\n\n\n\n As a family, we like to spend Advent encouraging our\nchildren’s growing excitement and focus it onto Jesus. <\/p>\n\n\n\n This means creative storytelling, an Advent basket books and games which comes out each December (see What goes in our Advent Basket?<\/a> for more on this!), counting down using Advent calendars and candles, playing out the story with our Playmobil Nativity, decorating the house with lights and hearts to remind us of God’s great love shown to us in sending Jesus Light of the World, singing, baking, cooking, crafting – but all in the spirit of how wonderful it is that we have Jesus, and what a gift to be able to share him with others!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/strong>Hello Liz! Thanks for having me here. I’m Lucy, married to Al who leads a church in York, where we live with our four children, aged 5-10. We came here for 3-4 years, but this summer celebrated a decade of living here! God is always surprising us!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/strong>In November 2017 I could see Advent approaching, and was feeling a little pessimistic about whether I’d actually be able to use it to draw closer to God. Life gets so busy, doesn’t it? Not least in December when there are a trillion other jobs to pack into an already busy schedule.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
real as well. Were there any parts you found particularly challenging to write – and what were your favourite sections to write?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
in the run up to Christmas. One of the things I appreciated about
Redeeming Advent is its call to take time where we can to be still with
God, and find God in the midst of all the chaos. Could you give us a few
tips about how to do this, even when life seems unrelenting?
<\/strong>Oh gosh, I am not a still or quiet person, so I find this really difficult!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/strong>Ultimately, I hope readers feel that by the end of the book they’ve drawn closer to Jesus. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Advent mean to you, and how do you celebrate or mark advent with your family?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
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