Welcome to the Journey Women Podcast. I'm your host, Hunter Beelis.

Life's a journey we were never meant to walk alone. We all need friends along the way.

On the Journey Women Podcast, we'll chat with mentors about gracefully navigating the

seasons and challenges we face on our journeys to glorify God.

On today's episode of the Journey Women Podcast, I brought back my friend Amy Waters from

episode 6 to discuss navigating the holidays when it just feels hard. We covered it all from

unmet holiday expectations to much weightier stuff like gathering together after the loss of a

loved one. Amy offers us lots of practical tips from her perspective as a counselor and of course

she points us to the hope that we have in Jesus as we're in the thick of the holiday season.

She said, first Peter, 113, he command us to set our hope fully on the grace that will be brought

to us at the revelation of Jesus Christ. And that includes the holidays. When I walk into

Thanksgiving, when I walk into Christmas, when I walk into Valentine's Day, whenever holiday it is,

that I'm going to set my hope fully on the grace that will be brought to me at the revelation of Jesus

Christ. If our hope is anchored to Christ, our identity is rooted in him and his work on the cross

and our joy comes from being invited to enter into his joy, our victories connected to the power of

resurrection. We don't have to be so self-protective. And if we're anchored to Jesus, we can kind of

let go of busing ourselves with temporary and fleeting joys and hold on to the everlasting joy.

Praise. So you'll know her a little better. Amy is a licensed professional counselor,

women's Bible study leader, disciple maker, and a self-proclaimed theology junkie. Love that.

Amy spent nearly 10 years on staff at Pinecoe as the conference director and it was there that

God gave her a passion for ministering to women and families. She earned a master's in marriage

and family counseling from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in 2011 and she's currently

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