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We are moving forward in the story— full steam ahead.

After Zechariah is visited by the angel Gabriel, Elizabeth becomes pregnant just as the angel foretold.

Now when Elizabeth finds out that a) the Lord has heard her cries and b) she is pregnant in old age she does something that floors me. Absolutely floors me.

She spends the next 5 months in seclusion.

Tucked away.

Off of social media.

Phone in airplane mode.

You get the point.

Read me right: homegirl holes herself up to be alone with God and the miracle for 5 MONTHS.

That. Is. Dedication. On. A. Whole. New. Level.

I rejoice when I get with God for more than an hour but can you even imagine what it would be like to dedicate 5 months of your life to him? Every waking and sleeping breath?

Now imagine doing that when you could be shouting the greatest news of your life from the rooftops.

I can only imagine there were probably naysayers in Elizabeth’s story, people who told her, “Hey, I think you should give up on that prayer at this point because you’re too old to bear a child.” My human instinct would be to use the first moment I could to prove those naysayers wrong. If I were Elizabeth then I’d be hustling to the town square and telling all my friends about Baby J. I would be fixing up my bump and declaring God’s goodness all over the place.

And don’t get wrong— God would love the praise coming off our lips but God is most honored and most pleased when we get alone with him because he— alone and all on his own— is praiseworthy.

When is the last time you got away with God not to ask for anything but simply to savor what he had already done? When in the last time you witnessed God doing something beautiful in your life and you simply spent time thanking him instead of sharing it?

Do you savor before you share or do you share because you want to tell the world you’ve got something savory?

I want to leave you with a challenge today. This is likely the only challenge I will give you the whole Advent series because I want this season to be about being over doing BUT today it’s necessary. It’s not mandatory and the world will keep spinning if you don’t get around to it but let’s just see if this does something for your soul…

This year is about to end.

And if we aren’t careful we will skip right from Christmas into a new year. We will hit December 26 and we will set our goals and run towards a new decade with all the dedication of people who want to be healthier and happier and practice better social media boundaries while eating all the kale.

But I want to challenge you to pause at some point in this next week. Carve out a space of just 15 minutes. That’s all. Set a timer and in those 15 minutes, I want you to go back and reflect on 2020.

Reflect on the work you did and the big things that happened. Reflect on the small projects and the ordinary miracles you encountered.

Reflect on the prayers you prayed and the good things God did in your life.

Reflect on the things that hurt you and the things that didn’t go your way in 2020.

Carve out space to reflect with God before you start posting 2021 goals all over social media. He did something in 2020. Don’t discount the beautiful and ruinous things that made you this year.

Just make space to remember what God has done in the year behind you before you move forward into a new year.

I believe this is what Elizabeth did during those 5 months: she reflected on the goodness of God.

She marveled at the miracle. She prayed and offered up thanksgiving.

She dedicated time to God to simply say, “Thank you. This is wild. Thank you.”

It would have been easy for her to want to rush and hurry through the pregnancy or share the news as fast as she could.

But instead,

she paused.

She waited.

She savored.

And I know, in the savoring, her spirit was satisfied.

READING

Luke 1:23-25

STEAL THIS PRAYER

Dear God, I want to run towards the New Year. Towards new hustle. Towards new growth. Towards new goals. Help me stop and pause– if only for a few minutes– to spend the last of 2020 remembering. As I sit down to reflect, amplify the work you did and the growth you made happen in me. I’m ready to savor the results of 2020.