Relationship Prescriptions with Dr. Carol

It's the ninth day of Christmas.  We're celebrating Christmastide - 12 days of brief Scriptures and thoughts to let the message of Christmas nourish our heart and impact our lives.  As we transition into a new year, what is your intention? How are you planning to live this year? What decisions are you making? The verse for today: "Let what you heard from the beginning abide in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you too will abide in the Son and in the Father.  And this is the promise that he made to us—eternal life."   1 John 2:24-25  

It's the eighth day of Christmas.  We're celebrating Christmastide - 12 days of brief Scriptures and thoughts to let the message of Christmas nourish our heart and impact our lives.  It's also the beginning of a new year.  What have you been waiting for? And what is your hope for this year? The verse for today: "But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!”    Galatians 4:4-6  

It's the seventh day of Christmas.  We're celebrating Christmastide - 12 days of brief Scriptures and thoughts to let the message of Christmas nourish our heart and impact our lives.  On the last day of 2023, let's talk about time - our experience of time, and God's perspective on time. The verse for today: "For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:  a time to be born, and a time to die;  a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;  a time to kill, and a time to heal;  a time to break down, and a time to build up;  a time to weep, and a time to laugh;  a time to mourn, and a time to dance;  a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together;  a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;  a time to seek, and a time to lose;  a time to keep, and a time to cast away;  a time to tear, and a time to sew;  a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;  a time to love, and a time to hate;  a time for war, and a time for peace."    Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

It's the sixth day of Christmas.  We're celebrating Christmastide - 12 days of brief Scriptures and thoughts to let the message of Christmas nourish our heart and impact our lives.  Reflecting on 2023, are you more like Jesus today than you were a year ago? How does that happen?  The verse for today: "Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful."  Colossians 3:12-15  

It's the fifth day of Christmas.  We're celebrating Christmastide - 12 days of brief Scriptures and thoughts to let the message of Christmas nourish our heart and impact our lives.  HOW can we walk as Jesus walked? What makes it work? We contemplate here how Jesus did it, and how we can too.  The verse for today: "And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him: whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked."  1 John 2:3-6  

It's the fourth day of Christmas.  We're celebrating Christmastide - 12 days of brief Scriptures and thoughts to let the message of Christmas nourish our heart and impact our lives.  Today we celebrate children! (the Feast of the Holy Innocents). And we pray for the end of evil. The verse for today: "Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.” And he rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed to Egypt."   Matthew 2:13-14  

It's the third day of Christmas.  We're celebrating Christmastide - 12 days of brief Scriptures and thoughts to let the message of Christmas nourish our heart and impact our lives.  Christmas means that God came to be WITH us. How can you experience that? The verse for today: "That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life— . . . that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ."  1 John 1:1,3  

It's the second day of Christmas.  We're celebrating Christmastide - 12 days of brief Scriptures and thoughts to let the message of Christmas nourish our heart and impact our lives.  Today - Christmas is not just for you! What does it mean to share - your story, and perhaps your resources? The verse for today: "And Stephen, full of grace and power, was doing great wonders and signs among the people. Then some . . . rose up and disputed with Stephen. But they could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he was speaking."  Acts 6:8-10  

Merry Christmas!  We're celebrating Christmastide - 12 days of brief Scriptures and thoughts to let the message of Christmas nourish our heart and impact our lives.  Today, Christmas Day, we consider what it means that Jesus entered our world - God becoming human.  The verse for today: "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth."  John 1:14  

The Christmas season brings lots of emotions; anticipation, hope, joy – and for some, deep loneliness, pain, or grief. Being intentional about how you celebrate the holiday season will make it so much more meaningful. In this holiday episode Dr. Carol talks with Dr. Andrew Fox, pastor and professor, about the deeper meaning of Christmas including some unique and fun differences in how Christmas is celebrated in the U.S. versus Great Britain. Find Dr. Fox on his website, Facebook, Instagram, or YouTube. Check out Dr. Carol's article How to Plan Your Way through the Holiday Blues Dr. Carol loves to hear from you. You can leave a confidential message here.