Revolution of Love

Revolution of Love

Do small things with great love.

She Who Believed: The Blessed Is She 2018 Lent Journal

It’s January 12 and I am still taking down the last of the Christmas decor. However, I’m also looking at the calendar in disbelief. Is Lent really only a month away?? It’s not possible! But the package I just received in the mail says IT IS possible because my Blessed Is She Lent Journal has arrived. Yay!

(This post contains affiliate links.)

Okay, so part of me dreads Lent (where.is.the.chocolate.) and part of me loves the chance to stop, reflect and draw closer to God. Having the Blessed Is She journal to guide me along the way makes it all that much better. The journal was written by Laura Fanucci of Mothering Spirit.com (who also wrote the Advent 2017 journal) so you know it will be good.

Each day we will follow the same format – Read, Reflect, Respond and Pray. I especially love that the book explores the stories of women in the Bible (Old and New Testament) to learn what they teach us about prayer.

Laura explains it this way:

The journal also looks at four common types of prayer—adoration, confession, thanksgiving, and petition—and how real women wrestled with God about their struggles, their joys, and the deepest longings of their heart. My hope is that this Lent can be a season of entering into renewed relationship with God. Learning from the wisdom of those who have walked this way before us.

Another beautiful aspect of the journal is that Laura integrated “pause” days that would allow us to catch up (because, you know… life!) or to spend more time reflecting a favorite passage.

Lastly, although this book is called a journal, do not think that you are obligated to write or draw in it. It is a beautiful devotional on it’s own without ever having to life a pen. Plus, it is simply lovely to look at, thanks to the incredible talent of  Erica Tighe of Be A Heart Design.

Photo credit: Blessed Is She

If you have a Blessed Is She Membership then the Lent journal will be auto-shipped to you. Otherwise, the journal is available in the BIS shop to purchase. There is also a gorgeous Lent Bundle that includes the following:

The Journal

Photo credit: Blessed Is She

The 8×10 She Who Believed Print and

Photo credit: Blessed Is She

Mary’s Way of the Cross Cards

So, will be joining me on this She Who Believed Lenten journey? I hope so!

I’ll be posting my thoughts throughout Lent and you can follow along in the Blessed Is She community using the hashtags #BISLent and #BISsiterhood. Let’s do this together and encourage one another. 🙂

PS – You can follow RoL on Bloglovin, Feedly or another news feed. If you are a social media fan like me, we can stay in touch through Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, GoodReads, Letterboxd, or Spotify. 😉


Little Lessons of Advent – Week 2

This Advent I am using the Blessed Is She Advent Journal as an aid to prepare for the coming of the Christ Child at Christmas. For too many Advents I’ve started out with the best of intentions and by the end of it had a dusty journal that was left unused far too many days. My goal this Advent is to try to consistently spend a little time each day praying and using my journal. I’m recording some of my thoughts for the week here to share with you and to keep me accountable.

Find lessons from Week 1 here.

* * * * *

The Importance of Prayer

The first week of Advent went really well. The second week, not so much. It had been a busy, busy week and I hadn’t been spending time in prayer and I could feel the difference in my attitude and lack of patience. No bueno! Finally on Friday I had to force myself to stop and quiet myself. After dropping off the kids at school I stopped by the Blessed Sacrament Chapel to spend some time in prayer before I started the day’s work. I poured my heart out to God, worked on my journal then started to pray for a few friends who were in particular need of prayer. As I was praying for “Jane” and placed her needs before Our Lord, my phone vibrated. I glanced over at it and saw a text from Jane. She was struggling at the moment and asked for prayer over a certain situation. I got goosebumps. It was eerie coincidence that she was calling out for prayer just as I was kneeling in prayer for her.

When I was done praying for her, I felt as if the Holy Spirit was saying, “You see. When you neglect your prayers there is more at stake than just your relationship with Me. God has placed souls in your hands that He wants you to pray for and love from afar. When you are too busy, those prayers are not being offered for them.”

As tiny and insignificant as I am in the grand scheme of things, God still wants to use me and desires I pray for his beloved children. It gave me a renewed sense of the need to pray, not only for myself but for others as well.

Women of Faith

There was discussion about our family tree and honestly looking at the good and bad. It renewed my desire to pray for extended members of my family who are not practicing the faith or who have fallen away from God.

One of the journal prompts also talked about the women in our lives who have been a source of inspiration and hope to us. My mom immediately came to my mind first. She is the woman of faith I admire most and not because I see her as “perfect.” I have witnessed her triumphs as well as her mistakes. I’ve seen her strengths and her weaknesses. She did not have the easiest life growing up but as she grew in her faith, she fought to put an end to the sin and dysfunction that was being passed down through the generations and chose to put God at the center of our family life.

It was not an overnight achievement and it took years of blood, sweat and tears but the mom and dad I have now are not the same mom and dad I had as a young girl. My mom is living proof that no matter how messed up your childhood/ youth may have been, it is not your fate to repeat your parents same mistakes. She planted the seeds of a new family tree that is flourishing with love and faith in God. My mom proves that with God’s grace there is the possibility of healing and a new life.

Jesus, Light of the World

In one of our journal prompts we had to chose a favorite title of Jesus. I love the title “Light of the World” because it is especially comforting during days of darkness – whether it is a small darkness as we struggle with something in our life or the greater darkness of evil. When life or circumstances seem bleak or overwhelming, Jesus shines like a beacon bringing illumination and casting out the darkness.

I also picture that light as a flame or torch in the darkness. Just as a fire brings warmth and heat into the coldness, so Jesus thaws our hearts, bringing warmth and comfort to our souls. It make my heart sing, “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel, be the Light of the World.”

Well, those are some of the little lessons I’ve learned this week. Do you have something to share? I’d love to hear it!

Or maybe you feel like you made no progress this week. (We’ve all been there!) No need to fret. This is a brand new week of Advent. New graces are waiting for you!

Have a blessed week.

PS – You can follow RoL on Bloglovin, Feedly or another news feed. If you are a social media fan like me, we can stay in touch through Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, GoodReads, Letterboxd, or Spotify, 😉


It’s Here! The 2017 Blessed Is She Advent Journal

The other day I was updating my music playlists and I accidentally tapped O Come, O Come, Emmanuel by Sixpence None the Richer. The boys ran into the room exclaiming, “We love this song!” They sang along and asked when we could start listing to Christmas music. Well, we are eager beavers in our house and start holiday prepping the day after Halloween. It may be way too early for some but it’s not to early to start thinking about getting your spiritual gear for Advent 2017!

Last year I used the Blessed Is She Advent journal and it was such a blessing to me. I am not exactly one to relish quieting myself down and I struggle to tame my mile-a-minute thoughts but the Advent journal really helped me to stop and focus on what matters the most during Advent – preparing our hearts for the coming of Christ.

This year’s Advent Journal was written by the lovely author and blogger Laura Fanucci and it was designed by the talented Erica Tighe of Be A Heart Design. I was thumbing through the journal and on the very first day it said:

Remember: what God desires is to be with you. To be in deepest relationship with you. To love you. Let yourself be in this moment with God. This is the heart of Advent: preparing your heart to receive Christ again. Remember that you can always return to the power and simplicity of this place – this eternal present moment of being with God in prayer.”

The word that jumped out at me was “Simplicity” because that was my word of 2017. It is as if God is bringing me full circle and reminding me of what He wanted me to focus on at the beginning of 2017. The simplicity of just being with Him. To realize that God desires to be with me and that taking the time to be with Him will change my life. I am so looking forward to using my Advent journal to help me spend that quiet re-connecting time with God.

With that in mind, I am excited to announce that the new 2017 Blessed Is She Advent journal is now available for purchase. It may seem too early to worry about it but I do encourage you to get it sooner rather than later because it always sells out. (And there are always people messaging me and emailing me to see if I know where they can get a stashed copy!)

Along with the journal, you will find the “There Is Wonder” print.

And this adorableAnything Can Happen” mug!

Or you can just do what I did and purchase the sale priced Advent Bundle that includes the journal, print and the mug. (Inset heart eyes smiley face!)

When you purchase your journal, feel free to share photos of you holding or using the journal. Use the hashtag #BISadvent so we can encourage one another on this journey of Advent!

Many blessings,

PS – This post contains affiliate links. I get a small compensation if you use my links, which helps to keep this blog online. Thank you for your support! xoxo

PPS – You can follow RoL on Bloglovin, Feedly or another news feed. If you are a social media fan like me, we can stay in touch through Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, GoodReads, Letterboxd, or Spotify, 😉

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31 Days of Gratitude (Day 4): May Designs Prayer & Gratitude Journal

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It’s Day 4 of the #write31days challenge. My topic is 31 Days of Gratitude. You can see my previous Gratitude posts here.

Want to join the writing challenge but are unable to write everyday? Join me for the Weekly Writing Challenge in October instead.

Now for today’s post…

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Anyone who has followed my blog for awhile knows that I have a thing for cute paper products. I love planners but have little love for plain black and white ones. I need to seduce my lazier side with color and cheery pages in order to trick myself into being more organized. I will sometimes play the same tricks with my prayer life. Now I shouldn’t need glitz to get myself to pray (more on that topic tomorrow) but let’s face it, sometimes you gotta do what works.

That’s where the lovely May Designs notebooks come in. I heard a lot of great things about them and got a coupon on Facebook so I decided to give them a try. You are able to custom order your notebook and they have so many options! I bought a graphed notebook, a fitness journal and a prayer/gratitude journal. The prayer/gratitude journal is my favorite because it is gorgeous inside!

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The prayer journal is set up for 40 days of prayer and gratitude. Here’s the inside cover.

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The pages look like this. So pretty, right?

I thought it would be the perfect tool on my 31 Days of Gratitude because I want this to be more that just a quick writing exercise. I really want to go deeper and make it mean something in my life. Getting page views and likes on FB are fine but that mean squat if the words I write here are not heart felt and making a difference in my spiritual life.

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So my pretty little prayer journal inspires me to turn off my phone, log off the computer, turn off Netflix and the stereo and quiet myself before God so I can pray. Then I can reflect on what God is speaking to my heart, write it in my journal and later share a bit of it with you.

It may be superficial and frivolous (go ahead and roll your eyes) but I can’t help it. Today I am grateful for my pretty prayer journal and the opportunity to actually use it. 😉

What are you especially thankful for today?

PS – You can follow RoL on Bloglovin, Feedly or another news feed. If you are a social media fan like me, we can stay in touch through Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, GoodReads, Letterboxd, or Spotify, 😉

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