Repeat the Sounding Joy.

December 2024 Newsletter.

Dec 30, 2024

But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people.”

Luke 2:10 NIV (emphasis added)

Thoughts to Ponder

Christmas is over. So, what now?

It was just a few days ago that presents were tucked under the tree, much to the delight of our toddler. We spent a wonderful day opening presents, eating yummy food, celebrating Jesus’ birth, and relaxing in our home.

But now it’s that weird-in-between-time—where Christmas is over but the New Year has not yet begun. There’s a lot of leftover sweets that you want to eat, but are also kind of sickened by after consuming so many over the last few weeks. Your presents are slowing being put away, or are scattered into piles as you try to find a new home for your things. Your Christmas decorations may or may not still be up. You have leftovers to consume but also find yourself still needing to cook.

There’s an odd tension of what to do during this in-between time. How productive should I be? Should I start reflecting on what happened over the last year? Should I find a “word” for the next year? Will I even remember my “word” by February? Maybe I will if I write down my “word” this time. What about resolutions—are making new year’s resolutions still a thing? What would my resolution even be, considering I have failed at all previous attempts?

This Christmas has been different for me in a few ways. The Christmas story—the birth of Jesus, our Savior—was unwrapped for me with a new perspective. I grew up in church and have likely heard the Christmas story about a million times, but the story was presented from a few different angles that I have not yet pondered before.

Shortly after Jesus’ birth, angels appeared to share good news of great joy to some shepherds in the field (Luke 2:8-12). Shepherds were normal, lowly, everyday people in that day and age. They were not famous or special. They did not hold a position of influence or authority. They were just normal, regular people. After the shepherds were told of Jesus’ birth, they hurried off to tell others about it (Luke 2:15-18).

I want to take a few moments to highlight a few things from this passage, that until this year, I have completely missed:

Jesus’ birth, and the reason He came to earth, is good news of great joy, for all people. We have literally received the best gift we could ever ask for—the opportunity to have eternal life, in Heaven, with Jesus. It is news to share, with everyone, and for everyone. We, as Christians, have a responsibility to share that news.
Normal, regular, everyday people were used to spread the good news of great joy, to all people. It wasn’t the rich, powerful, or famous that heard the news first. It was average, normal people. Personally, I often feel unqualified to share the gospel. I mess up a lot and am not perfect. I struggle, have vices, and sometimes say a swear word in my head (and also out loud). I don’t have a big “influence”, I’m not famous, and I definitely don’t have it all together. I’m just a regular mom who desperately knows she needs the Lord to steady her before she loses her cool if her toddler asks for a snack one more time before 10am. It’s kind of incredible to think that ordinary people, like me, were the ones who heard the good news first, and made the active effort to share it with everyone.
Normal, regular, everyday people hurried to share the good news of great joy. They did not ponder if they should tell others, and they did not hesitate. They didn’t wonder if they would lose friends, lose followers, or burn bridges. They didn’t care what would happen to their image if they shared the news. They didn’t try to spin what happened to fit a political or social agenda. They hurried, without pause, to share the good news of great joy, to everyone they could find.

I have been wrestling with those three bullet points for a few weeks now. I kept coming back to these three big ideas—we have good news of great joy that I, an ordinary person, should be eager to share, with everyone I see.

In church the other day, as we were belting out “Joy to the World”, it hit me: Yes, Christmas is over, but the need and urgency to Repeat the Sounding Joy has just begun.

Repeat the Sounding Joy. The good news of great joy needs to be repeated, over and over and over and over and over, until the very end of the age (Matthew 28:19-20). When we die, we are either going to Heaven or to hell—lives are literally on the line. There is nothing more urgent than to share the good news of great joy that Jesus came to earth, died for our sins and rose again, all so that we can live in Heaven forever with Him.

Personally, it’s easy for me to talk about my faith with people who I know are Christians. It gets harder to talk about my faith when I don’t know where the other person stands. It’s hard to share about my faith on social media, where comments and judgement (silent or typed) are free-flowing. It’s hard to talk about my faith when I’m an imperfect person who messes up daily. It’s hard because I feel like a hypocrite when I write about faith and patience and joy, yet despite my best attempts, I still lose my cool when my toddler is whining, the baby is crying, the dog is barking, and my husband is running late for dinner. It’s hard to talk about my faith when either I need to hear tough-love-words to address my sin, or when I feel the nudging to speak tough-love-words to another brother or sister in Christ.

I still haven’t figured out if I’m going to have a “word” for 2025 (doubtful). Or if I’ll make a resolution (unlikely). Or if I’ll actually lace up my running shoes and start to work towards my running goals (I’m writing this here, with the hopes it will hold me accountable that I might actually lace up my running shoes in the near future). But I know one thing for certain—I want to Repeat the Sounding Joy. I want to be intentional with my conversations. I want to be open and ready for the Holy Spirit’s nudging, and to have the boldness to act on it, when an opportunity arises to share the good news of great joy that has saved and changed my life.

Will you join me in this endeavor, to Repeat the Sounding Joy?

Bonus: Another Christmas Story Perspective

Did you know that the Christmas story started with a mother’s surrender?

I recently wrote on social media about how the Christmas story truly began with a mother’s surrender—how a mother’s surrender to God’s plan for her child, led us all to a Savior.

To read the full perspective, click here.

What I Wrote in 2024

Here’s a round-up of what I wrote and published in 2024.

Motherhood Changes a Mother and Daughter Forever — published by Her View From Home

Small Steps Lead to Victory — published by The Love Offering

A Grandma Who Chooses to be Involved Makes All the Difference — published by Her View From Home

Making New Friends as a Mom is Really Hard — published by Her View From Home

Red Light, Green Light — published by Coffee + Crumbs

Interested in reading previous newsletters? You can check out the archive here.

This is not a long list of publications. I do not have a literary agent or a book deal. My “following” is not impressive or note-worthy, per publishers’ standards.

But as I look at this list of publications, I cannot help but feel the tears well up and spill over. I will always fail to find the words to describe how humbled and honored I am to see my words published.

I always wanted to be an author, a writer, and to bring stories to life. Life had a lot of unexpected turns—studying medicine, becoming a physician assistant, and being a military wife who has moved every 2-2.5 years for the last 10 years—but through God’s grace and goodness, here I am, bringing stories to life, for His glory. All I can say is, wow, and thank you, Lord, for answering my third-grade-prayers of one day being a writer.

As a side note, thank you to everyone who reads my writing. It truly humbles me that people choose to read what I write, especially when we have access to endless reading possibilities on the internet.

What Links I’m Loving

Can we have an honest conversation about how Amazon seemingly takes all of our money? Or is it just me?

Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love that subscribe & save exists and that I can order my daughter’s favorite fruit snacks right to my door, but it is also frighteningly easy to order all of the things… that I don’t really need.

For example, did I really need to order these car seat organizers and protectors? Maybe yes, maybe no, but I sure do like them. Or what about this jewelry cleaner, that makes my rings sparkle and shine? I actually gifted this at a “favorite things” party, and it was a major hit.

I say that I don’t enjoy shopping, which is true—I don’t enjoy wandering stores, especially if it involves trying on jeans (why are jean sizes so vastly different between stores?!)—but I sure do enjoy Amazon shopping/scrolling.

Anyway, in the light of a new year approaching, I have decided that Amazon and I need a little break. A pause, if you will. I am putting up some rules and boundaries on how, when, and what I order on Amazon. I plan to test it out and see how it goes for the first three months of the year. If all goes well, I’ll be sure to share those tips and tricks with you (and if it’s an epic fail, I’ll share what not to do, ha!). Either way, I’ll share that update in the March newsletter. I’m sure I’ll throw in a mini-update along the way, too.

I’ll still be sharing links I’m loving, but they’ll likely be dug up from my order history vs things I’ve freshly ordered.

**I don’t get any kickbacks or perks from these links. I’m just sharing what has helped me lately, and thought you might want to know, too!

What I’m (Kind Of) Cooking

Why oh why is it so hard to make lunch everyday?

Breakfast is easy, now that I meal prep breakfast sandwiches for the month. (Interested in breakfast sandwich meal prep? Check out the recipe/process in this newsletter).

I can usually get dinner on the table by 5-5:30pm, thanks to a few helpful habits that I’ve implemented (be on the lookout for the 5 Habits to Get Dinner on the Table by 5pm—it’s dropping in January!).

Back to my lunch predicament.

Lunch is just a pain, to be honest. Half the time I need to scarf it down before I go pick up my daughter from preschool, and I often tire of making sandwiches that are lackluster at best. I have a few helpful habits to make lunch a little easier/more enjoyable.

Helpful Habits for Lunch:

To spruce up your sandwich or salad, get a Butterball boneless turkey breast (yes, the frozen turkey you buy at Thanksgiving, but buy the small one, usually around 3lbs, that is boneless), and either smoke it on a smoker (best done by your husband, if you’re anything like me, and have no idea how to use a smoker) or cook it in the oven, per packaging instructions. Slice it thinly and store in the fridge. This turkey tastes SO much better than lunch meat and also works great on salads. It’s also way cheaper to buy this turkey breast vs lunch meat.
Pre-made salad kits, split into two, have been so helpful to have a quick, filling lunch. I dump half of it into a bowl and mix and top it with turkey/chicken breast or hard boiled eggs. I eat the rest of the salad the next day for lunch. Helpful habit/humble admission: I just keep the salad/toppings in the original bag and roll down the top and stick it back in the fridge, instead of putting it in Tupperware, as a way to create less dishes… Because I certainly don’t need more dishes in my life.
Splurge on fancy mustard. Having a few different kinds of mustard to rotate through helps keep my sandwiches a little more exciting. Coarse Dijon mustard has been my recent favorite.
A bowl of soup, specifically, Stuffed Pepper Soup (recipe below). This is my absolute favorite soup. I love to make this and freeze it in quart-sized bags. It makes for a great, filling lunch!

Stuffed Pepper Soup

Ingredients:

3-4 bell peppers, diced
1 white onion, diced
1, 15oz can of diced tomatoes
1lb ground beef
2tsp minced garlic
1tbsp marjoram or oregano
1tbsp brown sugar
1 carton beef broth
2-3 big squirts of jalapeño ketchup (as a girl from Pittsburgh, I have to tell you that it needs to be Heinz Ketchup—Just trust me, the brand matters here)
2 cups of cooked brown rice
Optional: 1 small can of mild diced green chiles, or diced jalapeños

Directions:

Brown the ground beef on the stove top
Cook 2 cups of brown rice either in a rice cooker or on the stovetop
Put everything in the crockpot, except the rice
Cook on low for 8 hours, or high for 4 hours
With roughly 30 minutes of time remaining, add the cooked rice to the crockpot
Serve and enjoy!

Let’s Connect!

Thanks for reading my newsletter! Feel free to forward this email along to anyone who might enjoy it. My hope is to encourage you in your everyday faith and to share the joys and trials of life and motherhood. We’re all in this together.

—Kristin

Turning North

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