The air is turning colder, the days are getting shorter, and only a few tenacious leaves are still clinging to the trees.  You know what that means – Christmas is just around the corner!  And although we may try to deny it, with the holiday season usually comes busyness, stress, and the pressures to do and buy and go and see even more.  But, as beloved author Susie Larson says, what if there is a different way this year?  “Prepare Him Room: A Daily Advent Devotional” from Bethany House Publishers is a beautiful little volume that challenges us to ask the question: What matters most this Christmas season?

In “Prepare Him Room”, Susie Larson invites us to take a journey this Advent – a journey of hope and expectancy, joy and stillness.  I will admit that I have not read the entire book yet, because I am saving it for December, but the portions I have read are powerful and moving.  The very first daily reading was like an arrow straight to the heart of what I’m currently struggling with…. The reading is called “Embrace Expectancy”, and with Susie’s trademark warmth and wisdom, she encourages us to remember that: 

“It takes great maturity to embrace holy contentment and holy expectancy simultaneously.  Great things happen in the heart of one who holds fast to faith, peace, and gratitude, all mixed with an essential dose of expectant hope.”   

I don’t know about you, but I needed to read that right now.  I need to embrace contentment, for sure, but I also need to look forward, expectantly and with hope, to the future that God has promised His children.  

Guess what?!  All this is the takeaway from only the very first daily reading of this precious little book!  I can’t wait to see what challenges and inspiration pierce my heart when I read the whole book through come December.  

I adore Susie Larson’s writing, and “Prepare Him Room” is certain to hold a special place on the holiday bookshelves of many people this year, and for years to come.  I highly recommend this book, and I am so excited to take a special journey this Christmas season… Instead of busyness and stress, I pray for all of us that it can become one of reflection and a deepening relationship with our Heavenly Father – and I gratefully look forward to Susie’s guiding words helping this to happen.

“Book has been provided courtesy of Baker Publishing Group and Graf-Martin Communications, Inc.”