{"id":36042,"date":"2023-12-12T03:30:59","date_gmt":"2023-12-12T11:30:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/?p=36042"},"modified":"2023-12-08T16:01:03","modified_gmt":"2023-12-09T00:01:03","slug":"december-12-2023","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/2023\/12\/12\/december-12-2023\/","title":{"rendered":"December 12, 2023"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"fusion-fullwidth fullwidth-box fusion-builder-row-1 has-pattern-background has-mask-background nonhundred-percent-fullwidth non-hundred-percent-height-scrolling\" style=\"--awb-background-position:center top;--awb-background-repeat:repeat-y;--awb-border-radius-top-left:0px;--awb-border-radius-top-right:0px;--awb-border-radius-bottom-right:0px;--awb-border-radius-bottom-left:0px;--awb-flex-wrap:wrap;\" ><div class=\"fusion-builder-row fusion-row\"><div class=\"fusion-layout-column fusion_builder_column fusion-builder-column-0 fusion_builder_column_1_6 1_6 fusion-one-sixth fusion-column-first\" style=\"--awb-bg-size:cover;width:16.666666666667%;width:calc(16.666666666667% - ( ( 4% ) * 0.16666666666667 ) );margin-right: 4%;\"><div class=\"fusion-column-wrapper fusion-flex-column-wrapper-legacy\"><div class=\"fusion-clearfix\"><\/div><\/div><\/div><div class=\"fusion-layout-column fusion_builder_column fusion-builder-column-1 fusion_builder_column_3_4 3_4 fusion-three-fourth fusion-column-last\" style=\"--awb-padding-top:40px;--awb-padding-right:10px;--awb-padding-bottom:40px;--awb-padding-left:10px;--awb-bg-size:cover;width:75%;width:calc(75% - ( ( 4% ) * 0.75 ) );\"><div class=\"fusion-column-wrapper fusion-flex-column-wrapper-legacy\"><div class=\"fusion-text fusion-text-1\"><div>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-36043\" src=\"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Screen-Shot-2023-12-08-at-3.58.59-PM.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"399\" height=\"559\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Screen-Shot-2023-12-08-at-3.58.59-PM-200x280.png 200w, https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Screen-Shot-2023-12-08-at-3.58.59-PM.png 399w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 399px) 100vw, 399px\" \/><\/h2>\n<h2>Joy &#8211; Day 2<\/h2>\n<p class=\"BodyA\">Although Advent brings a sense of hope, peace, joy, and love, some of us may experience a depth of sadness at this time of year. We may be mourning those missing from our celebration or feel a loneliness that haunts us. Take heart, dear ones; you are not forgotten before the Father. He sees your pain and knows your sorrow. In this weariness, let Him comfort and encourage you.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"BodyA\">This passage in Nehemiah speaks to a people overcome by all they have lost. They felt their shortcomings. Yet, God encouraged them to carry on in life and ministry because He would be their strength. That strength was the joy of the Lord.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"BodyA\">Allow the joy of the Lord to be your strength. Enter into the holiday celebration despite the discouraging heaviness. Enjoy those things God is giving you, and give generously to those around you. See what God will do. You may be surprised by joy.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"BodyA\">\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"BodyA\" style=\"text-align: center;\"><em><b>Prayer<\/b><\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"BodyA\"><em>Father, You know the things we hold inside away from the eyes of the world. Meet us in our need. Those who sow in tears shall reap in joy (Psalm 126:5). Amen.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"BodyA\">\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"BodyA\" style=\"text-align: center;\"><em><b>Call to Action<\/b><\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"BodyA\">Be mindful of those who are grieving, those who are lonely, and those who are depressed. How can you reach out and draw them into the joy of the Lord?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"BodyA\">\n<\/div>\n<\/div><div class=\"fusion-clearfix\"><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[47],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36042","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-women"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p92wjD-9nk","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36042","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36042"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36042\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36045,"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36042\/revisions\/36045"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36042"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36042"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36042"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}