Merry Christmas to all my unseen friends. We, who believe the Messiah came to rescue us will live eternally with God in heaven. This is our hope, and it's thrilling!
Home seems where we ought to be this time of year, but I must confess it has been a desire of mine to travel through the world visiting other countries during the Christmas season. That would be an amazing experience to realize that I share my faith with others from all over the world. Believers are bonded together, we are a family because of God's love for us.
As we all have learned these past few months, God has made us resilient, and we can adapt during difficult times. That's good to know, don't you think? There will always be some drama and chaos to deal with; if not Covid 19, something else. Thanks be to God, and President Trump, that we now have an effective vaccine for this persistent virus. We hope this will be distributed all over the world and we will be rid of what has caused pain.
I received a Christmas card recently that said, "The thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices." These words are from my favorite Christmas hymn - 'O Holy Night'.
"Long lay the world in sin and error pining till He appeared and the soul felt its worth".
This verse says to me that only when God appears in our life can our soul feel its worth. If we don't value ourselves and don't feel worthy as a person, we're headed down the wrong road and surely trouble will come - you'll be depressed, maybe eat or drink too much, breakdown in relationships - all bad stuff. It's easy to go astray in this world but the truth is, that when we follow Jesus, we'll always wind up in the right place.
"Led by the light of Faith. . .by His cradle we stand. . .The King of Kings lay thus in lowly manager; in all our trials born to be our friend."
Jesus - born to be our friend. When we grasp this truth, we will have the 'thrill of hope'. The birth of Jesus is spoken of many times in the Old Testament. The prophets knew He was coming and foretold the event.
"For unto us a child is given,. . .And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." Isaiah 9:6-7
These verses refer to Jesus. Micah 5:2 tells us that Jesus will be born in Bethlehem. The words were written over 500 years before the birth of Christ.
"But you Bethlehem . . .out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel whose origins are from of old, from ancient times."
Micah seemed to understand that God had planned to send a Savior before time began. Micah knew Jesus would come for him. Do you know that Jesus will come for you? God never rejects anyone, never turns anyone away who comes to the Savior, asks to be forgiven and accepts Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior. Next Christmas you may not be living, so do it now and have the peace and the thrill of hope that comes from knowing you are a child of God. For those who already have a relationship with the Lord - this Christmas may you see and know anew how great His love is toward you.
My oldest son Kraig passed away in September. His father, my late husband, has been gone for five years now - 12/20/15. The first thing that came to my mind when told of his death was there would be a joyous reunion between father and son in heaven - I have no doubt of that, and this brings me great peace.
Lord, thank you for sustaining me, thank you for being my 'everything'.
