Friday Funny---I don't want anything for Christmas--Blimey Cow

The Women of Christmas by Liz Curtis Higgs--review

Don't most of us easily get hung up on all the holiday hoopla if we don't watch out? That's why I look out for things that can help me focus on "the Reason for the Season".

This year I read  The Women of Christmas: Experience the Season Afresh with Elizabeth, Mary, and Anna by Liz Curtis Higgs. I've always enjoy reading her works. Some of my favorites have been Bad Girls of the Bible: And What We Can Learn from Them and her Lowlands of Scotland Series, Vols 1-4.

Just like all of Liz Curtis Higgs' writing, The Women of Christmas: Experience the Season Afresh with Elizabeth, Mary, and Anna is easy to read and yet informative and thought provoking. Don't forget encouraging. Her focus on the women of the Nativity really helped encourage the reader to review in detail the miraculous steps God took to bring His Son into the world.

Higgs' also encourages women through this book. She shows how God used these women in mighty ways. He's not the misogynist that some try to make Him out to be. Just within the birth of his son he used a married woman, a single girl, and a widow. She does not leave out the men God used like Zachariah and Joseph, but her purpose is to teach ladies about how God used woman in the incarnation, and in my opinion, she succeeds.

I enjoyed how she used different translations throughout the book to clarify the Bible text and meaning. She also uses quotes from other women who apparently have done this study with her. In fact, there is a study guide in the back of the book which would be great to do with a group of ladies or even individually. I also looked at the bibliography and found the resources she used very reliable.

Feel free to read the first chapter for yourself!


I received this book for free from Blogging for Books for this review.
This post also contains affiliate links for the books I recommended. If you purchase through my links, I will make a little cash. 

Empty Arms at Christmas

I have written about this previously on my blog, but this version I updated for the Home Educating Family Blog.

Infertility during the Holiday

I have written previously about the burden the infertile bear during Mother’s Day. That holiday is a fairly obvious challenge for those who cannot be a mother. What is often unrealized by the masses is that there are other celebrations and days that may also strike hurt, fear, and shame into the heart of those dealing with infertility.

Most know that Christmas can be a bittersweet if not downright sad time for some people, especially those dealing with loss. Most losses are more obvious;:a job, a home, a spouse through divorce. Of course, there are also those dealing with a loss because of death. In fact, I know of a young husband and father who recently killed himself. That is definitely going to be a hard loss for his wife and children to deal with this whole holiday season.

Another loss is to miscarriage. To lose (although, thankfully, not forever) a child during a time that is celebrating a birth can be amazingly painful. I am sure most could empathize with individuals going through that.

The Pain of Infertility

Many, however, overlook the loss of another group of people because it is not as obvious: the infertile. Most don’t think about how Christmas could be painful to someone going through infertility. Miscarriage is the loss of a baby. Infertility is the loss of the hope of a baby. Loss is loss and grief is grief, but the loss of a hope is too intangible for some to consider or recall, especially when busy with celebrating the holiday.

- See more at: http://hedua.com/blog/christmas-infertility/#sthash.7cxARrG9.dpuf