Holidays are Coming, Will You be Stressed or at Peace?

By Debra DuPree Williams @DDuPreeWilliams

The holidays are coming. Here it is October and it will fly by just as the summer whose temperatures hung on tenaciously. But Fall seems to have finally arrived. With it will come all things pumpkin, changing of the leaves, crisp air, and . . . stress.

Thanksgiving and Christmas are just around the corner. While we always look forward to those joyful events, they bring along unwanted baggage. We scurry around trying to prepare everyone’s favorite foods. We clean, even though we will have to do it again once everyone returns to their own homes. And, if you are like many families, you wonder if, and pray that, everyone will be on their best behavior.

Holidays are just stressful. Thanksgiving is bad enough, but then comes Christmas—

that season which proclaims joy, peace, and goodwill. But sometimes, Christmas is anything but. Insert heavy sigh here. I know you know what I mean. We’ve all been there one year or another. But there is hope and help.

Hope and Help for the Weary

My dear friend and mentor, Edie Melson, wrote a book a couple of years ago titled, Soul Care, with the subtitle when you’re weary. She did an online study through this book which I found to be very assuring and helpful. The book comes with exercises getting you in touch with your creative self. Fun things that will take you away from the day to day stresses of this old world in which we live. I know you will love it. You can still find the videos of this at Soulful Ink on Facebook. 

Next, she wrote another book, Soul Care for Writers. Edie isn’t just an author—she is a mentor to many, not exclusively me, and she is the co-director of three writers conferences. To say she knows a thing or two about the world in which writers live is an understatement. If you are a writer of anything, even a grocery list, this book is for you. 

Unruffled for the Holidays

The third book in this series, accompanied again by an online study at Soulful Ink, is Unruffled, Thriving in Chaos. This fabulous book was co-authored by one of the funniest, most lovely women I know, Rhonda Rhea. It is filled with personal stories and advice on becoming unruffled.  I’m reading it right now and am doing the online study on Tuesday nights at 8:30. The online study is geared toward becoming unruffled through the holidays. We’d love to have you join us. Oh, and you get to do the creative projects along with all the others in the group.

This week, our task was to choose a verse that we feel speaks to us to help us get through the holidays in peace. I chose Matthew 11:28-30. In fact, I read the entire book of Matthew this week. When I came upon that verse, I knew right away it was the one I was to use. I have sung this more times than I can count. It has been set to music by none other than Handel in his Messiah. You probably

will recognize, Come Unto Him. Here is a link to an mp3 of my performance of Come Unto Him. This isn't the best quality and is about 20 years old. For that, my apologies.   http://bit.ly/2LSqhzq

Finding Rest 
I'm taking to heart those words. Everything else is moving to the background and Christ is claiming His rightful place, the forefront of my holidays. No matter what comes, those little unexpected things that always do, I am resting in the safe, peaceful, arms of my Savior who gives me rest like no other. I will get through the holidays, unruffled, with the Prince of Peace.

Do you have a verse that is speaking to you this holiday season? Share that with us and go over to Soulful Ink and join in the fun.

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