| I feel humbled around Christmas time, because I remember when God was faithful to my family in 2010 during one of the harder years of our lives. We would not have Christmas that year. In fact, we would not even have Christmas dinner. We had come to grips with that, it was what it was. We still had a roof over our heads, though we were not sure we still would by Christmas Day. We had what felt like the weight of the world on our home. Fear rested on our chests. A lot of times during that stretch of adversity, food was harder to come by. For some reason or another we had a bunch of popcorn in our cupboard. There were a lot of times my Mom would eat that as her meal. We joked about it recently when reflecting back on that time. We talked about how the popcorn was what God provided so we could enjoy the show he was about to put on in our lives. And oh, did He. One of my Dad’s co-workers ended up giving him two turkeys that year. Suddenly the empty fridge could hardly be closed from the giving of others that had filled it. My Dad told me his peanut butter sandwich (that he ate every day for something like 4 years) tasted like steak that day. Again, and again, I’ve been taught that a grateful heart changes all circumstances. And a grateful heart often precedes the miraculous things God will do in our lives. God saw us and our needs – he heard our calls. Inexplicably, we were given gifts and gift cards beyond belief. The mailbox was bursting with support, the front door was covered with gift baskets and even strangers gave generously to us that year unbeknownst to them where we were in our situation. We not only had Christmas that year, we had the greatest one we’ve ever had. Our hearts were spilling over with joy and disbelief for what we were experiencing in that moment. It overwhelms me to think about God coming out after us, searching to find us no matter how dark the place we are. That love lights me up and rattles me to my core. All I can do is weep joy when I remember where he has shown up for us and how he is always bounding after us with that same reckless love. The savior of the world came to be with us… I soak that in, weep joy, gain undefeatable hope and rest in that this Christmas. |