avatar
Denise Kohlmeyer
avatarDenise Kohlmeyer1 min read  

LIGHT IN THE DARKNESS

Devotion from "And the Word was God, Advent Devotions" by Henri Nouwen

"While Advent is a season of joyful expectation for so may people not everyone has the same experience. For some, Advent can, unfortunately, be a time of profound loneliness, frustration, or sadness. Maybe this beginning of the season seems less like a time to look forward to and more like an occasion to dread. Instead of peace, you already feel the anxiety mounting because of health, family stress, a loss, or finances.

Advent is a time of expectation, a season of joy because of Who is to come. But just because you don't feel joy doesn't mean it can't still be a time of expectation. Take this time to seek the Lord. Wait for Him in the shadows of the circumstances of your life. Wait for the possibility of the miracle that's going to occur, the miracle that we commemorate each year. Let us pray as Christians have done throughout the darkness of history: "Come, Lord Jesus, come!"

Lord, You make all things new! Bring new life and light to my darkness! Amen."

Be encouraged. Be blessed

Give

Subscribe to the Daybreak Devotions for Women

Be inspired by God's Word every day! Delivered to your inbox.

More from Denise Kohlmeyer

  • avatarDenise Kohlmeyer

    I BID YOU ADIEU!

    It is with a heavy heart that I announce the closure of my blog. I have taken on a new job with a nonprofit organization that requires a lot of my time and energy. In thinking and praying about simplifying my life and the things that I could remove from my life, my blog came to mind. God gave me peace as I prayed about discontinuing it. I've loved the time we've had together, and I pray this blog was a small blessing to you each month.I hope and pray you all have a wonderful summer. If you'd lik

    1 min read
  • avatarDenise Kohlmeyer
    featureImage

    THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE GRAPEVINE

    Boaz: “I’ve been told all about what you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband—how you left your father and mother and your homeland and came to live with a people you did not know before.” (Ruth 2:11) Boaz: “All the people of my town know that you are a woman of noble character.” (Ruth 3:11) When I read these verses about what Boaz heard about Ruth, I’m struck by how the gossip grapevine worked favorably, which is typically not the case. The grapevine usually is vici

    4 min readGossipRuthEncouragement
  • avatarDenise Kohlmeyer
    featureImage

    FAITH: HAVING THE RIGHT FOCUS

    Read Matthew 6:25-33In verse 33, Jesus essentially told His disciples that anxiety is a misplaced focus on the temporal, on what they will eat, drink, and wear. This is the focus of the unsaved, Jesus said. But it should not be the focus of God’s redeemed children.Jesus instructed His disciples, and us today, to instead recalibrate our focus from the earthly to the eternal, to “seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness.”We understand from the last devotion (Faith: The Antidote to Anxie

    2 min readDevotionalWorrySeek God FirstFaith
  • avatarDenise Kohlmeyer
    featureImage

    FAITH: THE ANTIDOTE TO ANXIETY (PART 1)

    Matthew 6:24-33If anxiety did add hours to our lifespans, many of us would live to be as old as Methuselah, who lived 969 years. But it does not. Quite the opposite. Studies have shown that anxiety can actually subtract hours, even days, from our lives. Anxiety increases our risk for certain illnesses, such as heart disease, which can lead to an early death. Anxiety can also affect our mental health in the form of headaches and depression.Was this why Jesus in today’s passage cautioned his disci

    2 min readFaithWorry and AnxietyMental healthEncouragement
  • avatarDenise Kohlmeyer
    featureImage

    HEAR FOR US

    “In my distress I called to the LORD; I cried to my God for help. From his temple he heard my voice; my cry came before him, into his ears” (Psalm 18:6). “No worries, sweetie. I’m always hear for you,” I texted my daughter recently when she apologized for text-venting to me about her awful day.She texted back, “Don’t you mean “here”?I looked at my typo and laughed. It was a mistake, of course. Or was it?As a mom, I want to be available to my three children whenever they need me, whether it is t

    2 min readEncouragementThe Presence of God
See all from Denise Kohlmeyer

Editor's Picks

avatar

Denise Kohlmeyer

More from Denise Kohlmeyer

  • avatarDenise Kohlmeyer

    I BID YOU ADIEU!

    It is with a heavy heart that I announce the closure of my blog. I have taken on a new job with a nonprofit organization that requires a lot of my time and energy. In thinking and praying about simplifying my life and the things that I could remove from my life, my blog came to mind. God gave me peace as I prayed about discontinuing it. I've loved the time we've had together, and I pray this blog was a small blessing to you each month.I hope and pray you all have a wonderful summer. If you'd lik

    1 min read
  • avatarDenise Kohlmeyer
    featureImage

    THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE GRAPEVINE

    Boaz: “I’ve been told all about what you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband—how you left your father and mother and your homeland and came to live with a people you did not know before.” (Ruth 2:11) Boaz: “All the people of my town know that you are a woman of noble character.” (Ruth 3:11) When I read these verses about what Boaz heard about Ruth, I’m struck by how the gossip grapevine worked favorably, which is typically not the case. The grapevine usually is vici

    4 min readGossipRuthEncouragement
  • avatarDenise Kohlmeyer
    featureImage

    FAITH: HAVING THE RIGHT FOCUS

    Read Matthew 6:25-33In verse 33, Jesus essentially told His disciples that anxiety is a misplaced focus on the temporal, on what they will eat, drink, and wear. This is the focus of the unsaved, Jesus said. But it should not be the focus of God’s redeemed children.Jesus instructed His disciples, and us today, to instead recalibrate our focus from the earthly to the eternal, to “seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness.”We understand from the last devotion (Faith: The Antidote to Anxie

    2 min readDevotionalWorrySeek God FirstFaith
  • avatarDenise Kohlmeyer
    featureImage

    FAITH: THE ANTIDOTE TO ANXIETY (PART 1)

    Matthew 6:24-33If anxiety did add hours to our lifespans, many of us would live to be as old as Methuselah, who lived 969 years. But it does not. Quite the opposite. Studies have shown that anxiety can actually subtract hours, even days, from our lives. Anxiety increases our risk for certain illnesses, such as heart disease, which can lead to an early death. Anxiety can also affect our mental health in the form of headaches and depression.Was this why Jesus in today’s passage cautioned his disci

    2 min readFaithWorry and AnxietyMental healthEncouragement
  • avatarDenise Kohlmeyer
    featureImage

    HEAR FOR US

    “In my distress I called to the LORD; I cried to my God for help. From his temple he heard my voice; my cry came before him, into his ears” (Psalm 18:6). “No worries, sweetie. I’m always hear for you,” I texted my daughter recently when she apologized for text-venting to me about her awful day.She texted back, “Don’t you mean “here”?I looked at my typo and laughed. It was a mistake, of course. Or was it?As a mom, I want to be available to my three children whenever they need me, whether it is t

    2 min readEncouragementThe Presence of God
See all from Denise Kohlmeyer