Because It's Not Always the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

The phone rang early one morning not too long before Christmas and my heart released someone I loved to the hands of heaven.

Ever since then I have been keenly aware of those for whom this is not the most wonderful time of the year.  You see, Christmas is not always about the merry and bright.  Sometimes our situations or our circumstances are just not what we would have them be.  Sometimes nothing is going our way and the grief and despair can be overwhelming - especially when it seems that everyone around you is in high spirits and they are walking on Easy Street.  Or maybe this is  the year that someone is missing from your celebration, not to be seen again on this side of heaven.

I'm grateful that Christmas isn't all about the sparkle and shine our culture would lead us to believe it is.  It is also about Love deeper than we know - deep enough to send hope in the form of an infant, deep enough to conquer even death.  We don't need to check our pain and grief at the door of Christmas.  We have a God who longs for us to lay our pain at His feet, cry out to Him and give to Him what we can no longer bear.  He wants nothing more than to replace our grief with hope and joy.  The kind of joy that is deep and wide, and comes on the other side of hard times, the kind of hope that is more than just a word - it is a state of being.  It is a firm belief that even if we don't know how or when, God will come through and better days are ahead.  For Yahweh is the true Hero of our story and unmerited favor is His specialty.  Let His favor rest on you today.

This clip reminded me of just that today as I sat in church and listened to our pastor speak.  Whatever you are facing, whatever hard times you are in and can't seem to see a way out of, know you have One in your corner.  He is the Healer of all wounds and the Restorer of all hope and joy.

Blessings,

{K}