I think we finally won the battle! After about a month of fits’n starts and my husband John coming to the rescue, my book is officially LIVE on Amazon. You can find the SECOND second printing in hardcover, paperback, and Kindle versions. The audiobook, read by me, is waiting for final quality checks, and then it will also be available on Amazon and ACX.

I hope this photo got your attention! Musings Along Life’s Journey Kindle version will be on a promotional sale from January 17th to 24th, 2024. The price will begin at $0.99, rise to $1.99, $2.99, then revert to the original $8.95. Thank you to all who have blessed me by buying the original version of my book. That money helped pay for the $1,200.00 for Dave Ficere to facilitate my audiobook creation.

Emmanuel, God with us! Let’s contemplate what that means. I will draw on Pastor Paul Gimtter’s sermon at ACF Church this morning. In the first chapter of the book of Matthew, we have the genealogy of Joseph and of Mary, proving they came from the line of David, tribe of Judah. As an aside, my elderly cousin told me our family believes we also came from David’s tribe.

God wanted to be with us so desperately that He reduced Himself to be placed in a human egg in Mary’s womb. Angel activity ministered well in the events pertaining to God becoming a man, Emmanuel.

Pastor Paul related it to a dirty, stinky diaper on a baby. Jesus, fully man and fully God, stepped into the dark, foul mess that mankind made. He came so we never haft to walk alone. Pastor Paul read Psalm 139 to reinforce the fact that there is no place we can go that He is not there.

Think of the deepest hole you have fallen into, the darkest night you’ve been in. He was there with you! He has never turned His back on you. Jesus did not come to condemn us in our sins and sorrows, but to save us. Ask the Holy Spirit to take you into the pains and hurts. Let Him show you where He was. Let God’s loving kindness turn those graves into gardens, your mourning into dancing. Jesus came to show us how much the Father loves us. Even the woman at the well, His messed up disciples… so many examples of the Father’s love and mercy through all generations!

Romans 8:38-39 AMPC
For I am persuaded beyond doubt (am sure) that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities, nor things impending and threatening nor things to come, nor powers, [39] Nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

I’d like to share one more piece of the Christmas story we don’t usually ponder. Bethlehem of Judea is where the shepherds raised the Passover lambs for the temple sacrifice. The lambs without blemish were chosen, then wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in a manger to keep them clean and unblemished. Sound familiar?

Luke 2:6-7 ASV
And it came to pass, while they were there, the days were fulfilled that she should be delivered. [7] And she brought forth her firstborn son; and she wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

Revelation 13:8 KJ21
And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the Book of Life of the Lamb, slain from the foundation of the world.

Oh, how wonderful! Oh, how marvelous is my Savior’s love for me! I hope you experience a new dose of the great love of Emmanuel, God with YOU this Christmas season.