Encountering Emmanuel: A Guided Advent Journal for Prayer and Meditation

by Heather Khym, Josiah Henley (illustrator)

Winner of a 2025 Excellence in Publishing Award from the Association of Catholic Seasonal Resources (First Place).Winner of two 2025 CMA book awards from the Catholic Media Front Cover Artwork (Third Place), and Design and Production (Third Place).Embark on a transformative journey this Advent with Heather Khym, cohost of the Abiding Together podcast, as she extends a heartfelt invitation to embrace stillness and silence amid life’s chaos, allowing God to dwell in the depths of your being. While the world moves at an ever-faster pace, Heather encourages you to pull back from the hustle and create space for our Savior to come into every area of your life—to transform and heal it through his love.In Encountering Emmanuel, using poignant reflections and accompanying videos, Heather will gently guide you into the areas of your heart where Christ has not yet come—the areas where you’ve shut him out, the places you’ve long forgotten and ignored, or the spaces you’re ashamed to acknowledge. You’ll learn how to invite him in so that he can bring his light, love, peace, hope, and healing into your heart. From the forgotten corners to the shadowed recesses, Heather encourages you to open these spaces to the transformative power of Christ’s love.Each day will show you a unique way God can come into your life, including the comes in the darknesshe comes to set us freehe comes to awaken us from slumberhe comes as a helpless childhe comes as a gift to the worldhe comes as a person with a facehe comes to be our foodGod will not force—love never does—but he asks, and we have a choice. Will you open wide your heart to the Savior and give your fiat as Mary did?Each day you’ll journey deeper into the meaning of Advent with a meditation, stunning art specially created for this book by Josiah Henley of Heart of IESVS, reflection questions, a prayer, and journaling space.Encountering Emmanuel is perfect for both individual and group use. Free companion videos and a downloadable leader’s guide are available at avemariapress.com.

Genres: Christian, Faith

109 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 16, 2024

Reviews

[Claire Steckbauer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful • Transformative • Meditative

Heather Khym did an amazing job of creating an Advent preparation for heart, mind, & life. Each day’s writing was beautiful and thought provoking. It truly felt like a transformative journey throughout the Advent season. I loved how the readings were applicable and easy to connect with, as well as intriguing. The questions were nicely connected to the readings and guided self reflection and prayer very organically. I really enjoyed the meditative parts and will reflect back on this book and her imagery! And the Litany of Encounter - wow powerful and heart filled.

[Arantxa Sánchez · Rating 5 out of 5]

¡GRAN libro!

Es bastante práctico y doable. 

Me gusto mucho la estructura y como cada día ella comparte una experiencia que la liga al "tema" del día. Las preguntas me parecieron bastante buenas y ayudan mucho a la reflexión. 

Las letanías son buenas, regresaré a ellas. 

Definitivamente leerlo en book club y compartir cada semana es un super plus.

[Judy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sweet, beautifully illustrated, very well done reflections for Advent.

[Leyla Gonzalez Treviño · Rating 5 out of 5]

Leer este libro fue desenvolver un regalo cada día del adviento... me encantó!

[Lynnette · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lovely journal with thought provoking essays and questions for reflection.

[Arianna Santiago · Rating 5 out of 5]

With her gentle, candid, and oh-so-realistic and relatable writing style, Heather Khym leads us into the quiet reaches of our hearts with Encountering Emmanuel. Each week brings a new theme and invitation to Christ - save me! bring me into the divine life! Show me how to live! Show me God’s love! Each day's reflection consists of a scripture passage, a short reflection written by Khym, reflection questions, and a short prayer,

I love how each reflection addressed a unique part of the human heart and experience, from our struggles with ourselves and our families to our longing for peace and healing. I can easily see how one might meditate and sit with the reflection of the day long after the day has passed - there is something for everyone here, many different opportunities for the Lord to speak to the reader. The gorgeous illustrations that accompany each week's introductory pages are colorful and full of character - certainly worthy of display on a bulletin board or wall!

The Litany of Encounter at the end of the book is a compilation of all the prayers and requests made throughout the book. It speaks beautifully to the heart of this book, and to the season of advent: preparing our heart to receive and encounter the Lord not just at Christmas, but at every moment of every day for the rest of our lives.

Thank you to Net Galley and Ave Maria Press for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

[Roberta Garza · Rating 4 out of 5]

Me encantó para prepararme para Navidad, mega recomendado para bookclub y acompañarlo del podcast de Abiding Together.
Unas de mis frases favoritas:
- "Only when there is darkness can we experience the real comfort, wonder, and beauty of the light."
- "In the quiet of our hearts, may we reflect on the profound truth that Jesus is the culmination of God's promises – The reason for our hope in God's faithfulness."
- "You and I are made for more. If we desire fullness of life with Jesus, it requires stepping into the flames. The moment we do and the fire begins to burn in us we are able to bring others into the same flame."
- "God is always trying to give good things to us, but our hands are often too full to receive. What is in our hands other than Jesus?."
- "Letting go of control and placing our trust in God leads to a life of peace."
- "Vulnerability is essential to love, and vulnerability means that we stay open despite the risk of being hurt".

[Kimberly · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Encountering Emmanuel” is a guided advent journal for prayer and meditation. Each week has a new theme, and each day includes a scripture passage, a short reflection with questions, a short prayer, and journaling space.

My favorite and most profound reflection stated that Jesus wants hearts, not things. He wants you, not what you can do. I found this amazingly grounding and renewing. This passage invited simplicity and unlocked a new way for me to encounter Jesus. The author encourages readers to embrace stillness and silence amid life’s chaos, and allow transform and healing through His love.

I highly recommend this guided advent journal to older teens and adults. I used it on my own, but I could easily see it used in a group setting. This would make a great gift for anyone wanting a closer relationship with Jesus.

Thank you to NetGalley and Ave Maria Press for the opportunity to read an advanced reader's copy of this book for an honest review.

[Brandi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Encountering Emmanuel is a beautiful guide to lead you in experiencing Advent more fully. Rich, deep, and moving meditations will usher your heart before the manager to worship and adore the King who has come. I look forward to starting my day with the quiet meditations. There is a Scripture or quote to start, then a reflective story to bring application to the key point. I personally love the reflect section as the questions are poignant, insightful, and relevant. A short prayer is offered that you can adopt or allow it to lead you into something deeper on your own. Designed to be enjoyed with a small group or individually, there are companion resources available to be downloaded as well.
I received a complimentary copy from the publisher via NetGalley and all opinions expressed are solely my own, freely given.

[Yen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed going through this Advent journal over the last four weeks! Beautifully-written daily devotionals that lend themself to meaningful reflection, conversations, and prayer. This has been a lovely addition to Leo and I’s journey this Advent season as we prepare our hearts for Christmas and reflect on both Jesus’s gift of Himself and what it means to truly live as a child.

One major pro of this devotional was that the reflections can be taken in isolation no matter the season or year; I see the messages to be quite endlessly relevant with the ability to stir something new in us each time.

[Jill Vaughn · Rating 5 out of 5]

A good advent reflection book, one of the best ones yet. I love Heather Kym's personal stories on the reflections of each day of advent. They complimented the topic and provided good starters for reflection. The question were good (must better than the study group) and allowed me to easily think about the coming of Jesus to us at Christmas. I did not quite understand why the book continued after Christmas for a few days, I think it should conclude at the end of Advent.

[Amelia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful devotional by Heather Khym. I read a lot of these & they can start to blend together, but as usual Heather had insightful, moving & fresh perspectives. This devotional is clearly inspired. A eARC was made available to me on NetGalley to review, but I of course bought a copy. The art is equally part of the experience & lovely.
Highly recommend.
The Litany is one I’ll be praying often & adding it to my prayers after my St Andrew novena during Advent.

[Jane K. Desmarais · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perfect healing meditations!

Very insightful, grounded in scripture. Excellent questions and meditations. An Advent home retreat you can use every year to deepen your advent experience and your healing. You won't be disappointed by this daily Advent journey. I'd even suggest you can do this journey any time of year if you missed this Advent season! Thank you, Heather, for responding to the Holy Spirit!

[Kyle McFerren · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars

We really enjoyed this Advent devotional. There is a short reading for each day of Advent (by week and day,) a few discussion questions, and a short prayer, as well as some cool original art scattered throughout. We especially liked the discussion question aspect of it. The author is Roman Catholic, but the readings are pretty lowercase-c catholic.

[Cath Holden · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this book because I did it with A.S. The book is beautiful and well organized. I found the passage a little disjointed and I found the journal questions to negative. I want to uplift and be motivate during advent and this was negative even though the passages spoke hope.

[Rob · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a small book with a powerful impact! We did this as part of an Advent book study at church and loved it. Great daily reflections on different aspects of the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ. I was worried that it would be dry and stale. Quite the opposite, it was engaging and very though-provoking. We will make this part of our holiday preparation every year!

[Hunter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved these reflections. Heather writes personally and only invites you into spaces that she personally has ventured into. Beautiful, vulnerable, great prompts that I felt started prayer instead of ending them. Can't wait to return to it next year.

[Hayley Shaver · Rating 3 out of 5]

Meh. It was ok. I love Heather Khym and I’m glad I read it bc it helped me focus a little more during the Advent season. Would definitely recommend to others. Devotionals just seem to fall flat with me. Probably a me problem 😵‍💫

[Joanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

LOVED it!

[Barb Ruess · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really enjoyed these advent reflections

[Ashley Robinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an incredible Advent book. The stories were short, quick reads, but full of so much content. Really, really good. Want to revisit next year again.

[Maggie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Heather Khym— what a GIFT! Highly recommend as an advent option. Favorite part is the Litany of Encounter that you go through line by line then can continue to pray fully again and again.