12/25 Merry Christmas

It is the evening of December 25th and I finally have a few moments to send out a Christmas Greeting. I hope that you all had a blessed day today, but more so I hope that you have found yourself blessed in general.

Some of you may know that Friday night I got sick with the flu and I was supposed to fly out on Saturday afternoon. I wasn't sure if I would be able to get on the plane (and stay in my seat!). I even called to see if I could postpone my flight, but no deal. So Becca helped me pack and took my sick self to the airport. I was sore and uncomfortable, but I was able to make the trip uneventfully. There has been a crowd at Mom's ever since I got home, just as I knew there would be. Lots of commotion, but it is good commotion. Last night we went to the Christmas Eve service at my sister Donna's church, Trinity. It was a beautiful service and I remember thinking that, even feeling junk, I was grateful for the opportunity to be with family and to have a few minutes to reflect on why I celebrate Christmas in the first place. An old song entitled, "Through It All" ran through my head.

The tag goes,

"I thank God for the mountains,
And I thank Him for the valleys,
I thank Him for the storms
He brought me through;
For if I'd never had a problem
I wouldn't know that He could solve them,
I'd never know what faith in God could do."

I don't always appreciate the storms. I don't like fighting to move forward in the face of a body that feels junk or emotions that are down or situations that seem hopeless. But each time that I see God come through, my faith grows stronger. It doesn't mean that God solves every problem immediately or that He keeps me from them in the first place. It does mean that He always has my back. He pushes me just past where I am comfortable and after I go, He swoops in and puts together the things I was sure would fall apart forever.

Believing past what I can see. This Christmas I am celebrating that I serve a God who is big I am allowed to believe past what I can see. I need to research this myself, but I have been told that God had been silent (at least in the eyes of the Jewish people) for approx 400 years before the birth of Christ. Can you imagine how amazing the news of "God with us" must have sounded after such a long silence?! For generations Jews were asked to believe what they could not see.
I hope that you all find a few minutes of time to reflect on whatever God lays on your heart this Christmas season. "God with us." Yeah!