Lysa TerKeurst _{Leading Women in the Adventure of Faith}

I wish you could be here with us in Italy for the Unglued video shoot. It really is breathtakingly beautiful and cold!

And yes, the food is amazing. I even had wild boar and some other crazy stuff I can’t even begin to pronounce.

We’ve taped in the rain…

… In a field

… Outside our villa

… Inside our villa

… In a stone kitchen

… And who knows what tomorrow might bring!

Here’s the fabulous film crew!

And here are the amazing Holly and Meredith who are doing a fabulous job keeping me straight.

Tomorrow we are headed into the city sure to find many more adventures. Thank you for praying for me. Your comments and prayers are so encouraging and so needed.

In the midst of it all, I feel the weight of responsibility for all the material I am teaching. I desperately want women to find help with their raw emotions while growing closer to God in the process.

I am in Italy this week taping  the “Unglued” Bible study DVD’s. Want a little sneak peek of where we were today?

It is super fun to be here but it is also a huge undertaking. Doing these DVD tapings makes me crazy nervous and can honestly wear a girl slap out.

So, will you pray for me? That would mean so much.

Here I am in our little villa beside the smoky fire. They don’t have heat here in Florence like in America. So, when we aren’t shooting you can bet I’ll be fireside!

Wish you were all here with me. Thanks for your prayers.

I’m guest posting over at (in)courage today~ would love to have you visit.

But first, I want to tell you about a book my Pastor is writing that I’m super excited about. He is giving the world a sneak peek today on his blog. Click here to read more about “Greater”.

Then come back here and tell me how a book like this would encourage you. And who would you be excited to give this book to?

I will randomly choose 3 people to win a $25 gift card to Target! Winners to be announced on Monday.

Thanks so much for your input. I can’t wait to read your thoughts!

So, yesterday morning I turned in Unglued.  And wouldn’t you know it, last night I was feeling a little unglued.  Good thing the goal in the book isn’t to reach for this perfect place where your emotions suddenly march in an obedient single file line and never ever act up again.

No.  The goal in Unglued is to make imperfect progress.

Sometimes we’ll feel ourselves in a wonderful time of progress.

Other other times we’ll feel more imperfect.

And that’s okay.  Because dealing with relationships and raw emotions is a bit like trying to nail jello to the wall.  It’s slippery and complicated.

So, back to my unglued feelings last night.  I was tired.  It was late.  And I was standing in the rain.  Need I say more?

I was trying to help one of my daughters carry stuff in from her car.  And I know this won’t make any sense to some of you but I was only on day 1 of my hairdo.  I have this thing with my hair where I take a lot of time with it on day 1… washing, drying, straightening, spraying, and straightening some more.

Then on days 2 and 3… I just wash the bangs and let the rest fall where it may.

This saves time and stress.  Except if I get it wet on day 1… then days 2 and 3 are disastrously more complicated.

Which is why this was a big sacrifice to be out in the rain on hairdo day number 1 helping carry the stuff in.  So when teenage ungrateful attitude appeared, it just got all up in my kool-aide.

So, I just opened my mouth and let my frustration be known.

Little did I know the cell phone in my hand had gotten bumped.  It bumped right into the last number dialed and redialed it.  And whose number was it?  One of my pastors.

Heaven help me.

Shortly afterwards I got a text from him:  ”I just got to hear a great argument with you and your daughter. Smiles.”

Heaven help me again.

The meaning of this little story is clear.  Delete your pastor’s number from your cell phone.  The end.

Next weekend I will be speaking with Gulf Coast Blessings Ministries at First Baptist Church in Gulfport, MS. I’d be honored to meet you there. Please click here for more information on this conference.

The winners of last week’s Untangling Christmas giveaway are: Karen Froehlich, Liz Clearman and Paige Berrigan. Please email Holly@Proverbs31.org to obtain your gift card and ebook.

Yes, that’s right. Only 74 days until Christmas.

But don’t let your emotions become all tangled like the light strings in your Christmas storage boxes. My friends Karen Ehman and LeAnn Rice will help you to simplify Christmas this year with their new e-book Untangling Christmas: Your Go-To Guide for a Hassle-Free Holiday.

If ever there were two gals who could help me have more ahhh than eeek during Christmas, hands down it would be them! Their ideas are practical, inexpensive and even realistic for girls like me who fear cookbooks and glue guns!

I’ve asked Karen and LeAnn to guest post for me today giving you a sneak peek at this girlfriends go-to guide. It will help you avoid the eeek and instead,  seek the ahhh.

And they are giving three of you who comment on this post a copy of their book along with a $10 Target gift card so you can buy the supplies needed to make their cool Christmas planner. Then you can get all organized instead of all tangled up this year.

Okay, here are Karen and LeAnn…

Let’s be honest. Does the very thought of Christmas invoke in you a severe case of the “Yuletide Yikes!”?

You long for a cozy, reflective time spent with your loved ones and centered on Christ. Instead your season is a whirlwind of frenzied activities, last-minute shopping and crisis cooking that often results in not only stress, but sometimes guilt.

Whoa Rudolph! Back up the sleigh!

Armed with strategies to simplify and de-stress, as well as tons of doable ideas and delicious recipes, this year can be different.

We want to empower you to:

Evaluate your current seasonal strategies (or lack there-of!) and identify re-occurring holiday hassles.

Acquire fast and frugal decorating tips and creative, but simple, gift-giving ideas.

Whip up delicious holiday foods – both the “from scratch” sort dear Grandma would have made and other simple, short-cut recipes for when time is tight.

Set up a simple Untangling Christmas Planner designed to enable you to be on top of the holidays, rather than the other way around!

Here is a sneak peek at the first step in the process. Our Christmas re-evaluation survey:

Let’s pause and stop this runaway sleigh. Maybe some of the reason we are so frazzled is that we are running around doing all sorts of holiday tasks our loved ones really don’t even enjoy. However, they may just be a little afraid of being honest about it and thereby hurting our feelings.

Here’s what you can do:

Hold a family meeting. (If you are the only one in your family right now, then pour yourself a cup of something hot, get alone and get ready to ponder.)

Gather the gang. Answer the following questions. Encourage honesty. The goal is to discover your unique way of celebrating—what speaks ‘Christmas” to your family or group of friends.

Talk through each question slowly and thoroughly. Have someone take notes.

Re-Thinking Christmas Survey

What has been your most favorite holiday tradition we have done and why?

What has been your least favorite holiday tradition and why?

Ask adults present to share their favorite memory of the holidays growing up. Notice, did it have to do more with money or with people? With getting or with doing?

Can you think of any new tradition you would like to include in our holiday celebration and why?

What holiday foods do you really love and most look forward to?

What holiday foods could you do without?

If we were to scale way back on gifts, list three or four possible presents you might like if you were only able to receive one gift from mom and dad.

How can we divide up tasks during the holidays so all responsibilities don’t fall on one person?

Who can we reach out to at this time of year? Now, what specifically can we do for each of them?

What are some ways we could celebrate the true meaning of Christmas rather than focus on getting gifts for ourselves?

Our prayer is that you will re-evaluate your Christmas and then this year, simplify, making room for the important—unhurried time making memories, reaching out to the lonely, helping the poor and most of all, seeking the Savior and occasionally, even a silent night!

Then, when the fruitcake is finished and the last strand of lights is taken down, you and you family will all feel blessed, not stressed!

Merry Christmas! (Okay, so we are 74 days early. We like to be ahead of the reindeer games!)

Karen & LeAnn

Click here for more info on Untangling Christmas.