Bringing hope for the holidays

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Anna Nash and Katy Shelton became best friends in kindergarten. They grew up together in Crestline, attended Briarwood Christian School and were college roommates at Auburn University. 

As life happened, Shelton moved to Atlanta while Nash remained in Birmingham. They grew out of touch for a while, but remained Facebook and Christmas card friends. It was when they reconnected at a college reunion that Shelton told Nash she had written a novel.

“She asked me what would you think about being my personal editor?” Nash said.  

Nash accepted, and the friends reconnected.

Last Christmas, Shelton asked Nash about co-authoring a book together on the parables in the gospel of Luke. 

“She told me to pray about it for 24 hours and if my answer was no, she’d take it,” Nash said.

Instead of a book, Nash came up with the idea of creating an Advent devotional. Luke was the perfect gospel for the project, as readers can explore one of the 24 chapters a day leading up to Christmas. 

Designed to help readers understand the richness of the gospel in daily living with a blend of Christmas, the devotional is intended to begin on Dec. 1 and end with the resurrection on Christmas Day, which is coincidentally Nash’s birthday.

“It’s counterintuitive to a typical Christmas devotional,” Nash said. 

Throughout the writing process, Nash took a break and Shelton did some of the writing. Each devotional has their initials on it to identify who wrote it. 

The three words that Nash uses to describe the devotional are hope, joy and comfort, all things that the celebration of Christmas offers in a non-tangible way that so many people need this year. 

“Surely it will be difficult to focus on the birth of our Savior because we are overwhelmed by so many hurts of 2020,” Nash said. “In the midst of current circumstances, through our book we hope to make Christmas more special than the last by offering words to help others remember what the holiday season is really about.”

The duo hope their message reaches many people, as this holiday season will bring more stress and emotional challenges than ones in the past. Things like not being able to travel, loss of family members, lack of physical and emotional connection, finances and more will make this holiday season more difficult than before. 

“We anticipate that this perspective will provide readers a simple and personal way to experience and celebrate the fullness of Christ during the Christmas season and beyond,” Nash said. 

Although they were planning to launch the book next year, a local company reached out to them wanting to publish an ebook for 2020 and they agreed the timing would be perfect. Preorders will be available on Nov. 13 at amazon.com/dp/B08N71RP9Y and it will be released on Amazon on black Friday, Nov. 27.

The e-book will be $7.99 and will be available through the Kindle app, which can be downloaded on any device. 

Shelton now lives at Lake Martin and Nash lives in the Altadena area and owns Innova Coffee with her husband, Tyler. 

For more information, visit christmasmattersbook.com.