 Isaiah 7:13-14 “And he said, ‘Hear then, O house of David! Is it too little for you to weary men, that you weary my God also? Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call His name Immanuel.” What amazing news. Surely this announcement would bring joy. God declared His coming. God would dwell among His people. God would fulfill His promise. God would no longer remain silent.
But joy does not walk alone. Just as we can’t have hope without darkness and peace without turmoil, the Advent season reminds us we cannot have joy without suffering.
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 As the cold comes and the Advent season is upon us, I began to think back over the past couple months. We welcomed into our arms our sweet little Claire in September, and so this fall has been a journey into all things new as a family of four. Its been hard, but its been sacred. The Lord has been so gracious and kind in this new season. And in looking back I've seen the four reminders my heart needed to hear.
There's a reason why Ann Voskamp only has a few books out: she completely pours her heart onto each and every page. And that takes courage and bravery, vulnerability and humility. It takes dedication to waiting for the write message to display itself on the page and the right time to release it to the world.
Ann's first book, One Thousand Gifts, left a profound impact on me; it instilled in me a sense of living with gratitude that I didn't have before. And her Advent devotional, The Greatest Gift, spurred me on to a deeper focus on Jesus during the Christmas season through the lens of biblical theology, by seeing Jesus in every story of the Bible leading up to His birth. So when I heard she had a new book coming out, I was quite eager to dive in with full anticipation that it would enrich my Christian journey. While One Thousand Gifts was all about eucharisteo, The Broken Way is all about koinonia. It looks into the act of communion, the brokenness and sharing that comes after the thanksgiving, the communion we can have with our Savior and the communion we can have with others. Ann wastes no time inviting the reader into her own brokenness as the very first sentence reveals her past struggle with self-harm. And from that first sentence to the last she shares stories from her life and lessons from Scripture that will definitely encourage, help, and comfort any reader. 
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