{"id":992,"date":"2025-12-01T07:00:09","date_gmt":"2025-12-01T13:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thethrivinglife\/?p=992"},"modified":"2025-12-03T18:45:30","modified_gmt":"2025-12-04T00:45:30","slug":"the-blessings-of-advent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thethrivinglife\/2025\/12\/the-blessings-of-advent\/","title":{"rendered":"The Blessings of Advent"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"Photo
Photo by Ruben Heged\u0171s on Unsplash<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

The Joy of the Season<\/strong><\/p>\n

Welcome to December Patheos Friends! Just like that the month that brings in one of the most wonderful times of the year is here! The month of December<\/a><\/strong> brings with it lots to observe and celebrate, especially all the faith-related observances and celebrations. From Advent, Hanukkah, to Christmas, this time of year is captivating with all the jubilations and festivities of this special season. The joy of this season is the solidarity of Christians worldwide celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ-Savior of the world. And happy birthday blessings to everyone that shares this special month of our Savior\u2019s birth as you celebrate. What a celebration this month is.<\/p>\n

Concept of Advent<\/strong><\/p>\n

Observing and celebrating Advent is powerful for a believer in Christ<\/a><\/strong>. For a long time, Advent has been observed in most Christian denominations. The concept of Advent<\/a><\/strong> started in the late 300s in<\/a><\/strong> modern day France and Spain where Christians at that time spent time fasting and praying leading to Christmas Day. Through the ages, the concept of Advent has grown to what we have today; celebrated by believers in Christ and many Christian denominations. Advent<\/a> <\/strong>is that four weeks span after Thanksgiving holiday to Christmas Eve. There are many transformational blessings<\/em><\/strong> to observing and celebrating Advent.<\/p>\n

Call to Draw Near to God<\/strong><\/p>\n

Believers in Christ can experience transformation by embracing Advent. Whether that involves a time of worship, a time of prayer, or a time of intense scripture meditation, Advent is a special call to draw near to God. James 4:8<\/strong> shows us the assurance of drawing near to God. It states, \u201cDraw near to God, and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.<\/em>\u201d Anytime a believer intentionally draws near to God, he or she is met with God\u2019s reciprocity- He draws near. Think of the blessing of God\u2019s Presence as you celebrate Advent this year.<\/p>\n

Call to Self-Reflection<\/strong><\/p>\n

Advent provides a time for believers in Christ to self-reflect by looking inward and asking the Holy Spirit to search us and see if there is anything that displeases God. Advent gives us that special time to do exactly what 2 Corinthians 13:5<\/strong> says. It states, \u201c<\/strong>Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you\u2014unless, of course, you fail the test?\u201d <\/em>\u00a0With the fast-paced culture<\/a><\/strong> we live in, Advent gives us this special call to slow down and self-reflect. Think of the blessing of God\u2019s Peace as you celebrate Advent this year.<\/p>\n

Call to Recalibrate<\/strong><\/p>\n

Advent provides a time for believers in Christ to recalibrate. Like equipment or systems that drift, off course, the human body needs frequent recalibrations. After a hectic week, month or year, it is not only wise to recalibrate, but it is necessary for the body to rejuvenate and heal itself. Spiritually, believers need recalibrations to ensure alignment to God\u2019s purpose just as written in Matthew 6:33.<\/strong> It states, \u201cBut seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.\u201d <\/em>Think of the blessing of God\u2019s Purpose as you celebrate Advent this year.\u00a0 \u00a02025 Advent: November 20 to December 24, 2025.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Joy of the Season Welcome to December Patheos Friends! Just like that the month that brings in one of the most wonderful times of the year is here! The month of December brings with it lots to observe and celebrate, especially all the faith-related observances and celebrations. From Advent, Hanukkah, to Christmas, this time […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4974,"featured_media":995,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[69,60,66,63,72],"tags":[224,263,179,305,311],"class_list":["post-992","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-coaching","category-discipleship","category-equipping","category-parenting","category-transformation","tag-advent","tag-forgiveness","tag-hope","tag-israel","tag-justice"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Blessings of Advent<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Welcome to December Patheos Friends! Just like that the month that brings in one of the most wonderful times of the year is here!\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thethrivinglife\/2025\/12\/the-blessings-of-advent\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Blessings of Advent\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Welcome to December Patheos Friends! Just like that the month that brings in one of the most wonderful times of the year is here!\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thethrivinglife\/2025\/12\/the-blessings-of-advent\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Thriving Life\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-12-01T13:00:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-12-04T00:45:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/1746\/2025\/11\/ruben-hegedus-fDz0gce-a4E-unsplash-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"780\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"520\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Dr. Feyi Obamehinti\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Dr. Feyi Obamehinti\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thethrivinglife\/2025\/12\/the-blessings-of-advent\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thethrivinglife\/2025\/12\/the-blessings-of-advent\/\",\"name\":\"The Blessings of Advent\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thethrivinglife\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2025-12-01T13:00:09+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-12-04T00:45:30+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thethrivinglife\/#\/schema\/person\/bffff604091f0b266b037065ae5ac0bb\"},\"description\":\"Welcome to December Patheos Friends! Just like that the month that brings in one of the most wonderful times of the year is here!\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thethrivinglife\/2025\/12\/the-blessings-of-advent\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thethrivinglife\/2025\/12\/the-blessings-of-advent\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thethrivinglife\/2025\/12\/the-blessings-of-advent\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thethrivinglife\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Blessings of Advent\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thethrivinglife\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thethrivinglife\/\",\"name\":\"The Thriving Life\",\"description\":\"Dr. Feyi Obamehinti's column The Thriving Life explores the intersection of faith, family and culture with Biblical applications for Christians in living out a thriving life that honors God.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thethrivinglife\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thethrivinglife\/#\/schema\/person\/bffff604091f0b266b037065ae5ac0bb\",\"name\":\"Dr. Feyi Obamehinti\",\"description\":\"Dr. Feyi Obamehinti is a wife, mother, an ordained minister of the gospel, Bible Teacher, speaker, life educator, author, co-founder of nonprofits Oasis Connection Ministries and Oasis Focus Inc. Dr. Feyi as she's known professionally, co-host Oasis Connection TV and Oasis of Hope Podcast with her husband-Dr. Johnson Obamehinti- from their home in Texas. As a life educator, Dr. Feyi loves to equip people with Biblical principles to thrive in every area of life. A dynamic international and national trainer\/speaker, she is passionate about helping people \\\"see life\\\" from God's perspective - only one that truly matters. A national syndicated commentator, Dr. Feyi equips leaders on maximizing their leadership for the people they lead. She is an encourager extraordinaire of the Wellness Project, ambassador of hope, community leader and advocate.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.podpage.com\/points-of-leadership\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thethrivinglife\/author\/fobamehinti\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Blessings of Advent","description":"Welcome to December Patheos Friends! Just like that the month that brings in one of the most wonderful times of the year is here!","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thethrivinglife\/2025\/12\/the-blessings-of-advent\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Blessings of Advent","og_description":"Welcome to December Patheos Friends! Just like that the month that brings in one of the most wonderful times of the year is here!","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thethrivinglife\/2025\/12\/the-blessings-of-advent\/","og_site_name":"The Thriving Life","article_published_time":"2025-12-01T13:00:09+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-12-04T00:45:30+00:00","og_image":[{"width":780,"height":520,"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/1746\/2025\/11\/ruben-hegedus-fDz0gce-a4E-unsplash-1.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Dr. Feyi Obamehinti","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Dr. Feyi Obamehinti","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thethrivinglife\/2025\/12\/the-blessings-of-advent\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thethrivinglife\/2025\/12\/the-blessings-of-advent\/","name":"The Blessings of Advent","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thethrivinglife\/#website"},"datePublished":"2025-12-01T13:00:09+00:00","dateModified":"2025-12-04T00:45:30+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thethrivinglife\/#\/schema\/person\/bffff604091f0b266b037065ae5ac0bb"},"description":"Welcome to December Patheos Friends! Just like that the month that brings in one of the most wonderful times of the year is here!","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thethrivinglife\/2025\/12\/the-blessings-of-advent\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thethrivinglife\/2025\/12\/the-blessings-of-advent\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thethrivinglife\/2025\/12\/the-blessings-of-advent\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thethrivinglife\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Blessings of Advent"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thethrivinglife\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thethrivinglife\/","name":"The Thriving Life","description":"Dr. Feyi Obamehinti's column The Thriving Life explores the intersection of faith, family and culture with Biblical applications for Christians in living out a thriving life that honors God.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thethrivinglife\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thethrivinglife\/#\/schema\/person\/bffff604091f0b266b037065ae5ac0bb","name":"Dr. Feyi Obamehinti","description":"Dr. Feyi Obamehinti is a wife, mother, an ordained minister of the gospel, Bible Teacher, speaker, life educator, author, co-founder of nonprofits Oasis Connection Ministries and Oasis Focus Inc. Dr. Feyi as she's known professionally, co-host Oasis Connection TV and Oasis of Hope Podcast with her husband-Dr. Johnson Obamehinti- from their home in Texas. As a life educator, Dr. Feyi loves to equip people with Biblical principles to thrive in every area of life. A dynamic international and national trainer\/speaker, she is passionate about helping people \"see life\" from God's perspective - only one that truly matters. A national syndicated commentator, Dr. Feyi equips leaders on maximizing their leadership for the people they lead. She is an encourager extraordinaire of the Wellness Project, ambassador of hope, community leader and advocate.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.podpage.com\/points-of-leadership"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thethrivinglife\/author\/fobamehinti\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thethrivinglife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/992","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thethrivinglife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thethrivinglife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thethrivinglife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4974"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thethrivinglife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=992"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thethrivinglife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/992\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thethrivinglife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/995"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thethrivinglife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=992"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thethrivinglife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=992"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thethrivinglife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=992"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}