Friday afternoon.
The house is filled with the delicious smell of Challah bread cooking in the oven and of the other food being prepared for that night and the next day. The whole family is busily cleaning, cooking, preparing in anticipation for Shabbat and abiding in His rest.
Tomorrow will be a day of rest, a holy convocation to the Lord, a day filled with fellowship, worship, being with the Father and delighting in His Word. 

It really has only been in the last year that our family has truly begun to set apart the entire day Friday to prepare for Shabbat and make it special and set apart from the other days of the week. 

There is something very sweet about taking the whole day to get ready for the Shabbat, completely turning our focus on the preparations at hand. 

And truly delighting in His Shabbat! 

"If because of the Sabbath you turn your foot from pursuing your own interests on My Holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy day of Yahweh honorable, and honor it, desisting from your own ways, from seeking your own pleasure and speaking your own word, then you will take delight in the Lord, and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth; and I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken."

Isaiah 58:13-14

The Sabbath is not a burden for us... It is a blessing! I look forward to Shabbat all week long, from the time it ends Saturday night to the time it begins next Friday evening! I would greatly encourage all of you to press in and take joy in preparing for this special day with thanksgiving and praise.

Shabbat Shalom!