Advent for Exiles, with Caroline Cobb and Erin Davis

Dannah Gresh: Sometimes in the Christmas season Caroline Cobb feels pressure from social media.

Caroline Cobb: Oh, a good Christian mom would do this, this, this, this, this, and this.

Dannah: She says the solution is to simplify your traditions and get back to the basics.

Caroline: The heart behind that kind of removal of all the extra things and the extra cultural pressures would be to focus in on delighting in Christ and waiting for Him to come and just stoke that anticipation. And that's what we want for our kids so that they take joy in the fact that Jesus came and is coming again.

Dannah: Welcome to the Revive Our Hearts podcast for December 12, 2025. I’m Dannah Gresh, and our host is the author of Consider Jesus, Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth.

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: Do you ever get an aching feeling for something better? Maybe it’s hard for you to put into words. But at this time of year, maybe you’re longing for a better connection to your family, and a more meaningful celebration of Jesus’ coming, and everything seems to fall short.

Our guests today on Revive Our Hearts understand that desire. We’ll hear from Erin Davis and Caroline Cobb in just a few minutes. Before that, here’s Dannah to tell you about a family who have found great comfort in the Word of God.

Dannah: This is a story involving three sisters.

Amy Nordstrom: Hi, I'm Amy Nordstrom. I'm from Rochester, Minnesota.

Carla Ruder: Carla Ruder, Minneapolis, Minnesota

Sara Klees: Hi, my name is Sara Klees, and I live in Elgin, Minnesota.

Dannah: . . . and their mom . . .

Gwenn Johnson: Gwenn Johnson, from Eyota, Minnesota, right outside of Rochester.

Dannah: First, a little background. Gwenn has listened to Revive Our Hearts from the very beginning. Well, actually . . .

Gwenn: I used to listen to Elisabeth Elliot.

Dannah: Her program was Gateway to Joy . . .

Gwenn: . . . the precursor to Nancy.

Dannah: There’s a topic Gwenn remembers hearing on Revive Our Hearts. She says it had a direct impact on her own life, as well as the lives of her daughters.

Gwenn: I used to listen to programs that talk about memorizing and hiding Scripture in our heart.

Rebecca Lutzer: If we don’t have God’s Word to look at and understand and allow it to comfort us and guide us through these times, we’re just going to be a mess.

Nancy (from “Life-Changing Verses You Should Know”): And so you’re talking, not just about reading the Scripture, but getting it into your heart

Rebecca: Yes.

Nancy: Memorizing it so that, when you’re in this crisis situation, it comes to you, it’s there in your heart, and then you can respond to it in the midst of that life situation.

Rebecca: That’s right.

Gwenn: And so I started doing that with them.

Dannah: Gwenn says singing also played an important part. 

Gwenn: Singing is really the easiest way to learn some of these verses and just theological thoughts.

Amy: Singing has always been a part of our home growing up. We sang a lot of hymns and there was always music in our home.

Gwenn: I used that to teach them what I knew to be true.

Dannah: Now, Gwenn’s daughters—Carla, Sara, and Amy—have families of their own. And they’ve seen the value of Scripture memory.

Our team caught up with all of them at our recent True Woman conference. Here’s Amy.

Amy: We all started doing the Holy Girl Walk with Dannah Gresh. I've always enjoyed hearing Dannah Gresh. We've come to the conference since 2017. I've been here for all of them, and she has been one of my favorite speakers.

So I followed her podcast and listened to her and her husband talk about their marriage, which has been very encouraging. And so she started this Holy Girl Walk, which I've always wanted to memorize Scripture more. 

Dannah: I should explain the Holy Girl Walk. I came up with the idea when it was popular on social media to post videos of “hot girl walks.” And I thought, Well, that’s not really the most humble, biblical way to approach things.

So I decided to go on “holy girl walks,” where I’d memorize Scripture as I walked. Basically, I invited anyone to join me, virtually, of course, on my Holy Girl walks. Amy, her sisters, and their mom worked together on memorizing . . .

Amy: . . . Psalm chapter 30, which is a psalm of deliverance.

Dannah: They didn’t realize how Psalm 30 would be used by God in the midst of a difficult season. 

This is Carla.

Carla: My husband and I and my kids had spent the day on the lake. As we were coming off the lake, I had several missed calls from my mom. They were trying to go visit my daughter who was camping with some family friends down in Southern Minnesota.

So my mom and dad had decided to just go for a short bike ride. There’s a path along the river. They were going to see if they could see the group tubing.

And within thirty minutes my dad called me, and he was really frantic. I don't really know what he said, but I knew that my mom had fallen off her bike.

Amy: On July 26, 2025, I was just playing with my family, and we got a call that mom was in a bad bike accident, and things didn't look very good.

Carla: It didn't sound good.

Dannah: Sara remembers getting the same kind of call from their dad, too.

Sara: The three things I found out was: she was in a bike accident, it was life-threatening, and call everybody that you know to pray. 

Amy: So we just all drove to La Crosse, which is about an hour and a half from my house. And we waited. The surgeon came and said, “Your mom has a broken orbital, broken mandible and maxilla, broken clavicle, broken rib. But what we're most concerned about is her brain.”

Sara: There was a lot of time of quietness with mom not being awake for pretty much an entire week. We didn't really know very many details, but it just felt like the peace of the Lord was there. It would be okay if this was the end of her earthly life and she was with her Savior, or if He was going to preserve her life.

Dannah: The uncertainty. The anxious thoughts. The fears. They were all countered by the Scripture passages Amy, Sara, and Carla had learned over the years.

Amy: Isaiah 26:3–4 says, “You will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you because he trusts in you.” (ESV)

Carla: Psalm 112:7 “I will not be afraid of bad news. My heart is firm, trusting in the Lord.”(ESV paraphrased)

And I've loved that verse for years. I would have to tell myself that verse as I would walk up to my mom's room and think, I'm not going to be afraid of what anybody has to say today. If my mom doesn't respond, I need to trust the Lord. And when evil thoughts would creep in, I would run back to that verse over and over again, and I still do.

Dannah: Remember the Holy Girl Walk? We worked together on memorizing Psalm 30. Carla reflects on how helpful it was to have those verses committed to memory, even as she and her husband drove to the hospital, unsure of what they would find.

Carla: It was a really quiet drive, and I remember thinking Psalm 30: “To you, O LORD, I cry, and to the LORD I plead for mercy.”

I spent a lot of that three hours crying physical tears and crying out to the Lord to just preserve her life, “Just preserve her life, Lord.”

Dannah: Amy was also praying Psalm 30 back to God.

Amy:  

To you, O LORD, I cry,
and to the LORD I plead for mercy:
“What profit is there in my death,
if I shall go down to the pit?
Will the dust praise You?
Will it tell of Your faithfulness?” (vv. 8–9)

And I was just talking to the Lord, like, “Bring Mom back, and she can talk about Your faithfulness and how You have healed her.”

Dannah: The Scripture passages Amy, Carla, and Sara had hidden in their hearts gave shape to their prayers. 

Well, the Lord did preserve Gwenn’s life. Her recovery was touch-and-go at first. Amy recalls the slow progress, and, again, the role God’s Word played.

Amy: I was singing, “Jesus Loves Me,” and I was like, “Mom, can you say, 'Jesus loves me'?”

And you could tell she was trying with her mouth to say the words, but they were not coming out. And so I just said it again, “Jesus loves me.” And eventually she said in a very whispered kind of voice, “Jesus.”

And I was like, “That's right, Jesus.” And then I said, “Jesus loves.” And she said, (in a whispered voice) “Jesus loves.” And eventually she was able to say the whole thing. 

And so then I was like, “Let's keep going.” And so I just kept going with hymns. I would sing part of the hymn and then leave out a word and see if she could come up with it. And she was doing it.

And then we moved on to verses. I remember doing John 3.16, “For God so love the . . .” and she would say, “World.”

And so those things, I knew they were in there and she was there. That was just an encouragement.

Dannah: For Gwenn, those days are a fog.

Gwenn: So, one of my daughters told me I was in an accident. “Do you believe that?” 

And I said, “Well, I don't know if I do or not. I have no memory of it.”

Dannah: Gradually, as she learned some of the details, Gwenn accepted the fact of her bike wreck and brain injury. She came home from the hospital in early September, just a month before True Woman ’25. She and her three daughters had registered for the conference before her accident. The question now was, would she be well enough to attend?

Carla considers her mom’s presence at the conference to be a definite answer to prayer.

Carla: I was in the car with my dad, and he said, “I'm gonna just pray that she can go to True Woman. I was like, “Okay, Dad.” I think he has this whole time, and here she is, and it's pretty sweet to be here with her.

From True Woman ’25: 

This is my comfort in my affliction
that your promise gives me life.
When I think of Your rules from of old,
I seek comfort. (Psalm 139:50–52)

Dannah: Gwenn understands the importance of having God’s Word hidden in our hearts. She’s seen it lived out by her own daughters.

Gwenn: They have used that in their lives a lot, and it does give me joy and gives God glory for these truths writing on their hearts.

Nancy: Wow! What an encouraging reminder of the Lord’s providential care over Gwenn!

And what a privilege for Revive Our Hearts to play a part, going back years ago, in bringing hope to this family. Ultimately, we know it’s the Spirit of God working through the Word of God to minister His grace to their hearts. We’re just a channel. 

You know, years ago Gwenn felt challenged to memorize Scripture with her daughters because of what she heard here on Revive Our Hearts. We’ve always been a listener-supported program. That means we’ve depended on donations from friends like you in the past, and we still do in the present, and we will for years to come, Lord willing. 

That’s how we’re able to continue bringing encouragement to listeners like Gwenn, Amy, Sara, and Carla. And this month you have the opportunity for your donation to be doubled because of a matching gift challenge.

Some friends of Revive Our Hearts have offered to match, dollar for dollar, whatever donation you make in December up to a total of $1.5 million. So if you give $20, that will become $40, and $100 will become $200, and so on. Our total need this month is for $4 million, including that million-and-a-half challenge. 

So would you pray with us that the Lord would meet that entire need between now and December 31? And if the Lord prompts you to make a gift toward that total amount, then contact us at ReviveOurHearts.com, or you can call us at 1-800-569-5959. 

Thank you so much! Your gift at this time will help us help women all around the world, women like Gwenn Johnson and her daughters.

Dannah: Earlier, Nancy, you mentioned the ache for something significant, something deeper and more meaningful, here at this time of year. Our guests today would say that sense of longing is evidence that we’re living like exiles. We’re not home yet. I’ll let them explain. 

Erin Davis is a mom, a wife, an author, a speaker, and she works for Moody Publishers. Recently she sat down to talk with singer-songwriter Caroline Cobb, who’s also a wife, a mom, and an author. Let’s listen to their conversation as Erin kicks it off. 

Erin Davis: Okay, you wrote a book called Advent for Exiles. Those are two words that pack a huge punch. Tell me a little bit about Advent, first of all yeah, and then why is it for exiles? 

Caroline: I started exploring the idea that Advent really sets us up for Christmas. So the longing of Advent as we're waiting for Christ to come the first time and as we're waiting for Him to come the second really sets us up for the joy of His coming.

And so in that way, the church is kind of always living a life of Advent because we are waiting for Him to come. And so the idea of exiles gets at that, too, that right now we are in exile. The New Testament calls us “exiles.” And then also exploring the exile of the Old Testament, how they were longing to get back into the presence of God.

Erin: I love framing it that way because we are waiting, and we feel that waiting with great anticipation, like we're waiting for Christmas morning. But I feel like an exile a lot of days, and I'm glad to be reminded that Jesus is coming. 

Speaking of Christmas, I have four kids. How many do you have?

Caroline: Three kids.

Erin: Three kids? Okay. And so every year I'm like, “I want this to be the year I really make it about Jesus,” you know? Like, I know you gotta do the things. You gotta go to the Christmas programs and buy the presents and bake. I actually love all of that.

Caroline: Right.

Erin: But I've also felt the sting of, “Oh man, it's December 26, and did we focus on Jesus? Did I help my kids focus on Jesus?”

So I just love to hear any tips—mom to mom or follower of Jesus to follower of Jesus—how you set your heart on Him because that season can just fly by.

Caroline: I think with our kids, and for me, I think the thing that I've been most convicted about is to remove some of those things, and to say, “If the whole point of this season before Christmas is to kind of whet our appetite for Jesus to come, so that we can rejoice that He is coming, and that He has come, then what can I do to stoke that anticipation?”

Erin: Yeah.

Caroline: So some of that is the traditions that we have or whatever, but I think the temptation for me, I don't know about you, is to sort of make this the most meaningful Christmas ever by accepting every single tradition I could possibly do in that twenty-five days. And then coming down afterward and saying, “You know, that was too busy, that was too whatever it is, too distracted.”

Erin: Yeah.

Caroline: And so I think for me, just thinking about, “What are the things that help my family anticipate?” It might be baking cookies, but it doesn't have to look like what everyone else does. I want to make sure that is the main point, to anticipate His coming, so that we can have more joy that He did come. So removing . . . What do you think?

Erin: Yeah. Every year is a tension. Every year I feel this strange pressure of, “This is the only Christmas I'll ever get when my boys are this age.”

Caroline: Right, right.

Erin: And that feels like, “Oh no! I need to make it really count!” 

Caroline: Right.

Erin: But I also have been attuned to Christmas morning halfway through, they've opened the presents, they eaten the cinnamon rolls, and their hearts actually don't seem settled.

Caroline: Right.

Erin: A lot of times it's kind of the worst behavior. They immediately start fighting over the toys or belongings they just got. It's been a good parable and lesson to me that those things actually can't satisfy me or my sons or the people that I love.

And so I think (and some of this probably come with age for me, too) just that intentional quiet. And some of that is between me and the Lord. I can't program it. I can't Instagram it. I can't buy it. It's that, “No. I'm gonna be so protective of seeking the Lord in this season.” You're right. That's where the sweetness comes in, the joy.

Caroline: Yeah, and even those really fun moments on Christmas Day, those are just like signposts for what heaven will be like.

Erin: Yeah!

Caroline: Then when we feel the disappointment on Christmas Day, when the toys break, or there are . . .

Erin: You forgot to buy the batteries.

Caroline: They’re being fussy. And you’re, like, “Are you not happy?”

Erin: Yeah.

Caroline: It’s because we are made for a home where we'll be fully satisfied in Christ. So we can use those moments to point our kids and ourselves ahead to what we're really waiting for.

Erin: Yeah. I want to talk about that disappointment because there is always just a natural letdown after the Christmas season, where it's, like, “Oh, now we gotta think of a new year.”

Caroline: Right.

Erin: We also face that cycle spiritually, like, “Jesus hasn't come back,” and there have been moments where it felt like either we were experiencing revival and and His return must be at hand, or the opposite, like, the world has seemed so dark and broken, and I think that He has to return.

And that's how the Word describes Him. It says, “It's at hand.”

Caroline: Right.

Erin: But, It's been saying it's at hand, His return is at hand for thousands of years.

Caroline: Yeah.

Erin: And so I just wonder, how do you in your spirit navigate that longing for His return and waiting with great expectation.

Caroline: Right.

Erin: In your lifetime it hasn't happened. In my lifetime it hasn't happened. Like, how do we carry the banner of hope? What if He waits another thousand years or ten thousand years?

Caroline: It is hard. You and I both love God's Word. So just to be rehearsing and remembering the story and the reality of the story that we find ourselves in. I keep thinking about heaven. Our Bible study is studying Revelation, and that's the reality. The throne room is the reality where every tear is wiped away. He is the center. We're worshiping Him.

Erin: “No longer is anything a curse,” Revelation 22 says, which I like. 

Caroline: Yes, as far as the curse is found, He’ll make His blessings flow. And I think that as we watch the news, when we see it on our phones, when it's hard, it just makes us say, “How long, oh Lord,” even more.

I don't know how practically we do that, but I think we have to hold on to the fact that the story isn't over.

Erin: Yeah.

Caroline: He's working all things for our good and His glory, and we're going to see Him face to face one day.

Erin: Yeah!

Caroline: And all of these things will be made new, and so we cling to that.

Erin: Yeah. I think that's part of living counter-culturally as we resist cynicism. I mean cynicism is the currency of our day. We live in a trust recession where nobody trusts anybody or anything. Cynicism is used to manipulate us and get us to feel all these kinds of things. And so for us to be like, “No. He is coming. We don't know when, but we will continue to look forward to that with great expectation.”

Caroline: Right.

Erin: It's such a revolutionary way to live.

Caroline: Yeah, that's right. Do you have any practical ways that you put that into your life?

Erin: You mentioned those passages in the Word have become so precious to me. You nodded to Revelation 21 which talks about “no more crying, no more pain, no more sorrow anymore.” I like to remind myself and others, “This isn't a fairy tale. This isn't a bedtime story we tuck each other in with when the news is hard. This is real.”

Caroline: Right.

Erin: You said that's our reality. It is. So for me, probably the most important thing is to have those rhythms of reading. In 1 Thessalonians which talks about His return and describes what it's gonna be like, not being fearful of those passages. First Thessalonians is one place where it tells us, “Encourage each other with these things.” Like, remind each other.

Caroline: Remind each other.

Erin: His return is at hand. He's coming back. It won't always be this way. I'm kind of a weirdo in that sense. I’m always reminding myself and others . . . You mentioned a prayer from the New Testament. We get it as one word. It's, “Come Lord Jesus,” which is just the word “maranatha.”

Caroline: Right.

Erin: And that word, “maranatha,” that's a superpower that the Spirit infuses us with hope when we remind each other of that.

Caroline: Yeah.

Erin: I think I just talk about Him a lot.

Caroline: Yeah. That’s right.

Erin: I talk about His return as if it's gonna happen . . . because it is!

Caroline: Yes, because it is! Hopefully, maybe in our lifetime, but for sure sometime. We’re waiting for that.

Erin: I don't know if it's just because I'm in my mid-forties and I've been walking with the Lord for decades, or if I really am sensing a wider shift, but I do feel like people are talking about the return of Christ more, and I'm grateful.

Caroline: Yeah. My theory is that I think it's because we see the darkness around us, and it makes us long for the light. I think other people, even non-Christians do, too.

That's an area of saying, “Hey! This is a reality that I live in, and it's true, and it changes everything about this reality that you feel like is where you find happiness or joy or satisfaction.

Erin: Yeah. It's good.

I mean, Advent really is about waiting well. It's like, “I'm not gonna waste this window. I’m going to wait well.” And isn't that how we're called to live in light of Christ's return? “Okay, we're here. We're waiting. We don't get to decide when You come back, but we don't want to waste the wait.”

Caroline: That’s right.

Erin: Believing in Christ's return and learning to wait well and spending that holiday season anchored to Him, that's taken a lot of practice for me.

Caroline: Right.

Erin: It's taken some muscle reps. I want my kids to get it younger, but you also can't force them to. You can't be like, “You will have wonder for Jesus in this season.”

Caroline: Right.

Erin: And just the pressure we feel at Christmas time, I just wonder for a mom that's like, “Okay, I want to steward Advent well. I want it to be Jesus focused.” What would you say for her heart, and then just what she should or shouldn't say to her kids?

Caroline: I think one illustration that has been useful for me is: a long time ago, my Bible study leader at a different church when we were in a different city, talked about this image of a jar. You have sand and you have rocks. If you put the sand in the jar and then you try to stuff the larger rocks into the jar, they won't fit. But when you put the rocks in first and then you pour the sand in, then it all fits.

And so I think asking the question as a mom, “What are the rocks and what is the sand?” And in our case, I think some of the rocks are spending time in the Word with our kids.

Erin: Yeah.

Caroline: Whether they're running circles or crazy, but just faithfully showing up and saying, “Look at how mom and dad do this and how we are hungry for God's Word and we’re centering our lives around God's Word. We want this for you too.” 

With so much grace, I just want to make sure I emphasize it can be hard, and a lot of times they're not listening.

Erin: Yeah.

Caroline: You think they're listening, and then all of a sudden they say some comment about cereal or something. “I thought you were listening intently, but you were just thinking about cereal.”

Erin: Yeah.

Caroline: Anyway, but just the idea of what are those big rocks?

I talked about it before, but kind of removing some of the sand. I mean, I'm not saying you can't bake cookies, or you can’t go caroling, or whatever your tradition is that you love as a family.

But I think as a mom, I also feel pressure to do everything that everyone is doing that I see on social media. Like, “Oh, a good Christian mom would do this, this, this, this, this, and this.” When, really, these are just a lot of ideas that you could do.

Erin: Yeah.

Caroline: Even devotionals and resources.

Erin: That's so freeing.

Caroline: So just saying,” I'm going to pick one thing, and I'm going to do that well. And then I'm going to pick a few of those things that are our traditions as a family.”

Erin: Yeah.

Caroline: But the heart behind that kind of removal of all the extra things and the extra cultural pressures, even from the church would be to focus in on delighting in Christ and waiting for Him to come and just stoking that anticipation. That's what we want for our kids so that they take joy in the fact that Jesus came and is coming again.

Erin: Yeah. I mean, don't miss just saying to them in the days leading up to Christmas, “This is actually a parable as we're waiting for Christmas morning, and we want it to be here so badly.”

Caroline: That’s so true!

Erin: “That's telling us a story. We're waiting for Jesus.”

Their brains may not know that. They may not have heard that story. And so just not missing that. I'm hesitant to ever give parenting advice because I don't know what I'm doing. I’m eighteen years in, and I have no idea what I'm doing.

Caroline: That’s right!

Erin: But I have learned that it's all compounding interest. Like, the whole time, it compounds.

Caroline: That’s such a good word!

Erin: And so, it's not really about getting Christmas this year perfect.

Caroline: Right.

Erin: It's about, to mix my metaphors, like a layer of paint. Like,
“Where can we show Jesus this year?” And then next year, “Where can we show Jesus next year?” That's also freeing. You're showing them over time.

And also, our own hearts are so important.

Caroline: Right.

Erin: Like, are we at ease? Are we joyful in Jesus? Are we anticipating Him? They watch all of that.

Caroline: Yes. I think what one thing that you're pointing to . . . I love that metaphor. Thank you for that.

Erin: You're welcome.

Caroline: I have teenagers, and I can see that to be true. But another thing you're saying is showing them Jesus.

Erin: Yes!

Caroline: I think as a mom, one pressure that I have felt is to show them a perfect mom. So that they could like the Jesus that I like.

Obviously I wouldn't say that out loud. . .but I feel that way sometimes, but I don't truly believe that. But I think freeing ourselves from being this sinless, perfect mom. Instead, when we do mess up, when we do sin, when we don't do things perfectly, we're showing them that, “I'm not trying to point you to a perfect mom, but to a perfect Savior who has saved me. I believe in His good news, and I need it.

Erin: Amen.

Caroline: And so I think, even in Advent, even in Christmas, that's something we need to remind ourselves of. We're not setting up . . . we are not the camp counselors for the perfect Christmas and the perfect camp counselor that will never lose our temper or get upset or make mistakes. But instead, we're going to be constantly showing them through our weaknesses and our strengths and our love who they should worship, who has saved us, and who we're pointing to.

Erin: Man, moms need that in every season.

Caroline: Yes. Grace, grace, grace. Yeah. Look to the Lord.

Erin: I've recently discovered that I'm a perfectionist. I don't like that, but I am. Where the rubber has met the road is for me realizing perfectionism is actually anti-gospel, because why would perfect people need a Savior?

Caroline: Yeah.

Erin: Why would we need grace? Why would we depend on the Holy Spirit? Why would we need to feast on the Word every day? If we were perfect, we wouldn't. And so, none of us like the fact that we fail our children. None of us like the fact that we fall short because we love them so much, and we want to get it right.

Caroline: Right.

Erin: But those imperfections, whether it be how you execute a certain holiday or just how you operate in your home with your kids, might be your greatest gospel sermon, because it's why you need Jesus so much.

Caroline: Right. Jars of clay pointing to the great treasure of Christ.

Erin: Yes, amen.

Caroline: That's what we want to do with our kids, too. I do think Christmas is a time where that temptation is real.

Erin: Yeah. You mentioned social media. We can't blame social media for everything, but we are seeing other people's celebrations in real time with filters.

Caroline: Right.

Erin: A lot of times it's like, “Oh, it wouldn't have even occurred to me to hide an elf on a shelf every day for a month, or it wouldn't have even occurred to me to have a baking party and take that to all my neighbors. Should I be doing that? Do I need to be doing that?”

Caroline: Yeah.

Erin: And so, I think it's just a big distraction.

Caroline: Again, going back to making sure we're not listening to everything that we should be doing. Because you literally can't do all twenty of the things that are good ideas. And just pointing people to Christ, pointing our family to Christ.

Erin: Can I tell you a little confession? 

Caroline: What's that? 

Erin: I feel a lot of pressure about those Christmas pictures people take at candlelight service, at church lobbies, or . . . My kids are not in matching clothes. I have four boys that are not looking at the camera. And so I just take that sand out of my jar, because I just can't.

Caroline: Yeah. I’m not going to do that picture! Exactly. And that's so freeing.

Erin: Yeah.

Caroline: You don't need to do that. It's okay.

Erin: Right.

Caroline: Let's free moms up to take some of those things off their plate.

Erin: Let's do it.

Caroline: To point to Christ.

Erin: I love that.

Nancy: Well, I hope that conversation between Erin Davis and Caroline Cobb helps relieve some of the pressure you might be feeling. You don’t have to try to do everything! I’d encourage you to pray about it, too. Ask the Lord to give you wisdom to know what’s “sand” and what are the “rocks,” as you heard Caroline and Erin explain. 

Caroline’s book is called Advent for Exiles. The subtitle is, 25 Devotions to Awaken Gospel Hope in Every Longing Heart. I’ve got to tell you, I used this Advent devotional last Christmas, and it was such a huge blessing to my heart. It’s beautifully written, beautifully designed, and I know it will be a blessing to you.

If you don’t use it this Advent, you can have it ready for next year. There’s more information about how you can get a copy linked in the transcript of this program, at ReviveOurHearts.com. Be sure to check it out. 

And while you’re on our website, as I mentioned earlier, I hope you’ll consider making a donation. Remember that more than 40 percent of our donations for the entire year come in the month of December. And right now you can take advantage of our matching gift fund to double your contribution. 

Again, our website is ReviveOurHearts.com. Or if you’d rather call, the number is 1-800-569-5959.

Dannah: Well, in all the hustle and bustle of Christmas, it’s helpful to stop. Pause. 

Listen to the voice of God. That’s something that a character in the New Testament was forced to do. 

On Monday, Nancy helps us look at the life of Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist. Specifically, we’ll study Zechariah’s hymn of praise when his tongue was loosened once again.

Have a wonderful weekend, and we’ll see you next week for Revive Our Hearts.

This program is a listener-supported production of Revive Our Hearts in Niles, Michigan, calling women to freedom, fullness, and fruitfulness in Christ.

*Offers available only during the broadcast of the podcast season.