Christmas is Hope

 

There’s a hole in our Christmas… Maybe there’s one in yours too.

We are missing several key members of our family. Our hearts ache for them a little more at Christmas time when we are reminded more intensely that they’re missing.

But Christmas is worth celebrating. It’s about so much more than being a big happy family. So we choose to celebrate… and hope… because that is what Christmas is about.

As Ann Voscamp says, “His Glory in the Highest always runs down to meet us who are in our lowest.”

We’ll rejoice in the anticipation that, because of Christmas, we’ll see those deceased loved ones again. Because “Christmas is the beginning of the story where death itself gets killed.” And we’ll hope in the anticipation that the one who is still living, yet absent, will find his way.

Because that is what Christmas is all about…

     …Joy

         … Hope

               …Anticipation

That’s why He came…

     …In the midst of a genocide

          …As a homeless refugee                 

               …Poor and powerless

That’s how the King of the Universe entered our world.

He has turned our HOLE into HOPE! So we grieve and believe. We rejoice in hope and anticipation.

Merry belated Christmas

and a Hope-filled 2015 to you!

Wholly Submitted is Not Passive!

Offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God--this is your spiritual act of worship. --Romans 12:1

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. --Romans 15:13

Paul knew that the only way to live a holy life is by the power of the Holy Spirit and our complete submission to Him. And what hope, joy and peace it brings when we finally do so! My flesh cries out in pain when I don't let it have what it wants. I literally feel tears rising up in my eyes when I do something contrary to what my flesh wants. This is putting to death the misdeeds of the body. Death is painful even when it's something that needs to die in order for me to truly live.

This may be a lame example, especially in light of how Christians around the world struggle, but it is where my struggle lies. Last night I felt the Spirit urging me to work out. I refused. that was sin--outright and willful. I let my flesh win last night. What will I do tonight?

Lord, I will stand on your word and look to the hope, joy and peace that submission to You brings and allow that to give me the strength to do what is right.

Faith of Greater Worth Than Gold

This scripture has been rolling around in the back of my head since I posted my last blog.

In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, 1 Peter 1:6-8 (NIV)

True joy is not the absence of grief or suffering. It's more the result of a faith that has been tested and tried by grief and suffering, resulting in the praise, glory and honor in the revelation of Jesus Christ. Even though we may not be able to see that end result, we are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy! And that is my unswerving hope!

Turning 50

I turned 50 yesterday. I wasn’t sure how I’d take this milestone, but so far 50’s not so bad!


The last big birthday party I had was ten years ago when I turned 40. Life is so different now from what it was then, but I don’t feel terribly different. The one way I have changed is that I’m more realistic about life. Circumstances have forced my head out of the sand and I can no longer swim in the river of denial. I still try every now and then, but the voice of experience tells me that it’s not worth it! Better to deal with life head on.

Now even though I am more realistic, and sometimes even a little cynical, I am not without hope! In fact, my faith runs much deeper than it did ten years ago. During that time, I have faced bigger challenges than I ever dreamed survivable. We went from being a busy family of four to abruptly becoming empty nesters, then back to the life of raising a young child! These major changes involved lots of grief and sorrow. And they changed me. My faith has been challenged again and again. Each test went a little bit deeper, and this faith that God has put in my heart has become stronger. Ten years ago, we were just getting a taste of real life, and I was trying to “live on the surface,” never believing that God would allow anything bad to happen to me and my family.

Now I know that life on planet earth involves suffering, but not without hope! I heard an elderly lady laughing in McDonald’s yesterday. Her laughter rang through the whole restaurant again and again. Now I’m pretty sure she hasn’t lived to the ripe old age of 70-something without living through times of grief. Yet she can produce laughter that is absolutely contagious! I want to be that lady some day. Laughter that has survived trials is the best kind of laughter. It comes from a deeper place than laughter that has lived on the surface of life. It is a healing kind of laughter—one that says, “I won’t let this life get me down! I have hope for the future! Hope that runs deeper and longer than life on planet earth. Hope that knows that, even when things aren’t fine, there is a reason to have joy… a reason to laugh!” And that is my Unswerving Hope—even more so at age 50!