Trust God in the Dark This Christmas

"God constantly encourages us to trust Him in the dark . . . 

 
It is heartening to learn how many of God’s mighty deeds were done in secret, away from the prying eyes of men or angles.

When God created the heavens and the earth, darkness was upon the face of the deep. When the Eternal Son became flesh, He was carried for a time in the darkness of the sweet virgin’s womb. When He died for the life of the world, it was in the darkness, seen by no one at the last. When He arose from the dead, it was ,’very early in the morning.” No one saw Him rise. 

It is as if God were saying, “What I am is all that need matter to you, for there lie your hope and your peace. I will do what I will do, and it will all come to light at last, but how I do it is My secret. Trust Me, and be not afraid.” 

With the goodness of God to desire our highest welfare, the wisdom of God to plan it, and the power of God to achieve it, what do we lack? Surely we are the most favoured of all creatures."

~ A.W.Tozer, 'The Knowledge of the Holy' [emphasis mine]

Whatever dark you face this Christmas, trust in Immanuel . . . God with us.

All you have need . . . your life, your hope, your joy, your peace . . .  is found in Him.

Merry Christmas, dear friend.

May the joy of the Lord be your strength.

Rebekah

The Greatest Gift to Give This Christmas

There are some of us (which, really means: all of us) who come from a long, long line of broken and busted up people. 

A line of hurting and selfishness and unforgiveness that cuts deep and runs on and on and ends up sprouting roots of bitterness and stifles love and slaughters relationships.

And no matter how perfect any family appears on the outside not one person is untouched from the Fall and every single soul is in desperate need of forgiveness. 

The only hope all of us ever have is the Messiah who was wrapped in swaddling cloths and placed in a manger, with the full purpose to be one day stripped of his clothes and nailed to a cross so that He could make us new, and 'though our sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow', and cover us with His righteousness. 

For days I've been thinking about my own hurting family line and how I could relate to this:

"You can stand around a Christmas tree with a family like Joseph's, with cheaters and beaters and receivers, with a family like Jacob's, who ran away and ran around and ran folks down. But out of a family line that looks like a mess, God brings the Messiah." {Ann Voskamp. The Greatest Gift, emphasis mine.}

For days I've been thinking about mercy and grace and forgiveness.

It's never neat and tidy, never perfect and pretty. It's never easy or even our default, but it is possible. There is one way to forgiveness and it cuts away the bitterness and grows love and restores relationship. 

And even though many of us imperfect people will meet with imperfect families over the next few weeks during the Christmas holidays, and some may be dreading it, there is this mercy: our Messiah reached down into our mess to redeem us from the fall and place us in His family and calls us to live in grace, grow in love, and give the gift of forgiveness and it is all made possible by His righteousness alone.

The greatest gift we, the ones who have been grafted into His family tree and given so much, could give one another this Christmas is forgiveness, wrapped in grace and humility, served with love.

There are some of us who are slowly realizing that better than perfect is grace, better than health is holiness, better than fortune is forgiveness, better than anything this world could offer is the God of all mercy who made this world to be in an intimate relationship with us.

Our Marks Behind the Scenes

It was a quiet moment on Christmas day and one of the sweetest candid shots I snapped all day.

We had gathered around warm, gooey cinnamon rolls, feasted on the rich promising words of the Incarnation, unwrapped more than glittering presents, but His glorious presence in our lives, and pulled up our sleeves to prepare a banquet.

Now the turkey was sizzling, the smell whirling its way throughout the house, the light dinner rolls were waiting on the counter, and the golden apple pie dripping sweet juice was tempting me to make it the first course.

In the momentary hush, after the excitement of the morning and before my sister and her husband with their five boys, including twin five-month old babies, who had been without power for days due to an ice storm (Yes, I agree, they deserve more than a medal!!) would join us, I listened as my Mother-in-law shared a precious moment with one of her granddaughters.

I could hear the story of 'Audrey Bunny' unravel as she turned the pages and the bunny with a mark became real.

Real.

Because this is my story too.

It's not just the little girls who are afraid to show their marks, or fear that their marks may be seen after all their try-hard living to keep their imperfections from being seen.

From grandmothers to little girls, we all have marks that we are scared to reveal.

But in the right hands, we will come to see that no matter our mark, we are loved, and we are fearfully and wonderfully made.

"I am the LORD; I have called you in righteousness; 

I will take you by the hand and keep you." 

{Isaiah 42:6}

Linking with Behind the Scenes

O Come Let Us Adore Him

We've been preparing our hearts for His coming. 

We have the Good News.

It brings us great joy.

Immanuel.

God With Us.

Love came down.

The Messiah lying in a manger.

The Christ came to lay down His life on a cross.

 That we might come to Him.

Amazing grace.

May be like the poor shepherds who glorified and praised God for all they had heard and seen.

May be like Mary who treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart.

May we be like the wise men and seek and fall down and worship Him.

O come.

May we simply come.

Into His presence.

Lay aside the trappings of this world.

Let us adore Him.

It is time.

Words of Wisdom for the Weekend ~ Anne of Avonlea Offers Advise in the Duck Dynasty Conversation ~ and Humble Thoughts to Guide our Conversations at our Christmas Gatherings

Let your speech always be with grace, 

as though seasoned with salt, 

so that you will know how you should respond to each person.

The night of the third annual neighbourhood hockey game, on the Friday before Christmas, and it's pouring down ice.

Hot chocolate is served with ice and it transforms into chocolate slushies in paper cups and the goodies laid out have a frosting that could knock your teeth out, but the hockey players play on, with not a care in the world that they are coated in freezing rain.

As predicted, in the morning, it's a beautiful winter wonderland.

I tromp through the ice-capped snow to attempt capture the sheer glory of it all and it's like shards of glass under my feet. I steady myself against slipping and breaking either camera or bones.

The ice is beautiful, but it can also be deadly.

Lately, I've been thinking of conversation.

Words can be beautiful but they can also be deadly.

Weeks before social media went crazy with Duck Dynasty hashtags, and anyone was silenced, I was reading Anne of Avonlea to my children.

I have to admit, I've never watched one second of the Robertson's episodes, but you can't be online for even a minute it seems without hearing the conversation, that sadly is even happening at all.

How we need to see things through a lens of beauty and speak in such a way.

In all the controversy, talk about freedom of speech and bigotry, or speaking truth in love and intolerance, and lack of honest dialogue, but too much hate, this Anne quote keeps coming back to mind:

“Anne was saying with true Anneish philosophy . . . 'We're to seek for beauty and refuse to see anything else.' . . . "  "'If a kiss could be seen I think it would look like a violet,' said Priscilla.  Anne glowed.  'I'm so glad you spoke that thought, Priscilla, instead of just thinking it and keeping it to yourself. This world would be a much more interesting place . . . although it is very interesting anyhow . . . if people spoke out their real thoughts.'  'It would be too hot to hold some folks,' quoted Jane sagely.  'I suppose it might be, but that would be their own faults for thinking nasty things. Anyhow, we can tell all our thoughts today because we are going to have nothing but beautiful thoughts. Everybody can say just what comes into her head. That is conversation.'" ~ Lucy M Montgomery, 'Anne of Avonlea'

We have the opportunity to speak honest words that build and strengthen or horrific words that bite and shatter.

We can either capture the beauty around us or carelessly lacerate like jagged bits of glass deep into dermis.

Pain receptors have been sovereignly created in us, right in the skin of us, to detect and automatically respond to what is harmful for the human body.

And right in the soul of us, God has given us grace to season the conversation that we may respond in a way that will benefit those who hear.

Families that have let words cut and left wounds deep, communities that have failed to offer safe places, friendships that have left off with cold shoulders and broken pieces will gather over the next couple of weeks to remember.  As we remember what Christ has done we re-member, as Mark Buchanan says in his book, 'The Rest of God'.

Christ has come. He's coming again. That is enough to make all conversation flow with grace.

What if while we feast together with brothers and sisters, we fast from ungracious stinging words and offer only speech seasoned with salt?

Social media will have a heyday with hashtags and heated opinions, but let us gather in real places and extend warm hugs and open our mouths with loving and beautifully gracious words that come from thinking about: "whatever is true, whatever is worthy of respect, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if something is excellent or praiseworthy".

That is conversation.

***

{Words for Wisdom for the Weekend: These are words that I have been challenged or encouraged by that I have read throughout my week that I kept pondering; words that I couldn't get off my mind and heart throughout my week. 

For other Words of Wisdom for the Weekend posts see here.}

When Homelessness is More than a Face and our Hearts Break Afresh

We put out seeds in the old feeder for the birds and enjoy the theatrical show from the kitchen window and shoot them with glass lenses.

Front and centre, the chickadees flitter back and forth calling us 'hey sweetie', the sparrows and finches alternate between perching on the edge of the feeder and gleaning on the ground, and the wood-peckers tap, tap, tap.

The dark-eyed juncos prance and dance in the snow and the white-breasted nuthatches forage down the tree headfirst.

Bossy blue jays bully their way in and try to take over while the mourning doves sing and coo.

We catch only a glimpse of the hawk hiding high up in barren branches.

From off-stage, out there on a limb, the bright pair of shy cardinals swiftly glide in and out before their predator spots them, and then find safety in their shelter in the snow crested pine tree.

They all fly home.

"And Jesus said to him, 

'Foxes have holes, 

and birds of the air have nests,

 but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.'"

{Mathew 8:20}

Homeless used to be an unknown face.

Now it's a name.

It's a loved one far from home but not far from our hearts.

It's not just a vagabond with vacant eyes.

Not just a beggar with a cardboard box and dirty clothes on top of a street vent.

Or the humblest creature hunched over a few coins.

It's family, a brother, a son.

A long lost loved one.

It's the least of these, our brothers living in the lowest means.

We look to heaven and pray he'll find his way home.



When homelessness has a name you look at the desperate with different eyes.

We offer the smallest token of God's love.

We extend hands, look deep into eyes to say God's loves you.

Offer a warm bowl of soup and a cup of hot coffee, maybe a sweet donut, on a bitter winter's day.

Step away and pray that it will be received as God's comfort in a cold world and that it will make our hearts bleed like Christ's even more.



When it hits close to home it can't be ignored.

In the words of William Wilberforce, " . . . you may choose to look the other way but you can never again say that you did not know".

We must look straight to the heart of the Messiah who left His home with His Father, chose the lowliest birth, and "was laid . . . in a manger, because there was no place for [him] in the inn".

The One who makes all things beautiful in His time, was a babe in a manger at the appointed time.

He knows homelessness. He bore it's name.

But in His redemptive plan he gave it a new name.

It's called Hope and it was birthed out of Mercy and Grace.

We're all homeless until we are called home. All without hope until we reach out in faith and take hold of His.

Living Hope in a manger to call the lost, wandering ones home.

Called us—now sojourners, pilgrims, temporary residents here on earth. 

Those of us who have received mercy, who have found hope?

May our hearts break over what breaks His.

May our brothers who have no home, know His hope this Christmas.


 

Words of Wisdom for the Weekend ~ The Light in Dark Places

"The people who walked in darkness 

have seen a great light;

those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness,

on them has light shone."

~Isaiah 9:2~

"The message of Christmas is not that we can make peace. Or that we can make love, make light, make gifts, or make the world save itself. 

The message of Christmas is that this world's a mess and we can never save ourselves and we need a Messiah. 

For unto us a child is born. 

The Light never comes how you expect it. It comes as the unlikely and unexpected—straight into Bethlehem unlikely and the feed trough hopeless, and Christmas whispers there is always hope. It doesn't matter how dark the dark is; a light can still dawn. It doesn't matter if the world whispers, 'There's not a hint that help will come from elsewhere,' telling us that nothing will ever improve, get better, change. God favours the darkest places so you can see His light the brightest. 

And once the light of Christ shatters your dark, shadows forever flee your shadowlands. There's no going back and living in the dark; you live in impenetrable, safe Light of light, and Christmas never ends for you. A Christian never stops living Christmas."

~Ann Voskamp, 'The Greatest Gift'

***

{Words for Wisdom for the Weekend: These are words that I have been challenged or encouraged by that I have read throughout my week that I kept pondering; words that I couldn't get off my mind and heart throughout my week. 

For other Words of Wisdom for the Weekend posts see here.}

How to Wait to Give Birth to Hope not Worry

Nobody has ever said that waiting would be easy.

And, honestly, I've never found it to be.

Waiting unleashes worry that winds its fingers of fear like a noose around my neck so that I can only cry out for a cord of hope.

It can set anxiety on fire till I wake up in a sweat dreaming of the worst case scenario, the dreaded diagnosis, or the debilitating state of affairs.

The uncertain can attempt to undermine the most sure purpose.

The unplanned can aim to undo the most perfect schedule.

The unknown can aspire to unravel the most secure person.

If one has no hope to turn to, no Saviour to trust.

In times of waiting we turn back through the pages of history and read how hope was made a reality in the days of our lives in the most astonishing way.

When Mary was visited by the angel at first she was greatly troubled and uncertain that what was told her could possibly be God's purpose for her.

"How can this be?"

She was doubtful.

She was betrothed to Joseph and marriage would come before the child was her perfectly laid out plan.

"I am a virgin?"

She was skeptical.

She was secure in the Jewish traditions but this announcement that she would bear a child and He would be the very Son of God had never been known to another woman. The impossible was not only unknown it was also unheard of.

She was incredulous.

It was all a mystery.

God chooses the weak things of the world to shame the strong. 

 "Nothing is impossible with God."

God chose a slip of a girl to bring about His gracious plan of salvation.

He placed in her heart the desire to surrender and in her womb the Deliver who would save her.

“Behold, I am the servant of the Lord . . ."

She was willing.

And then the waiting began.

I can't imagine the doubt and discouragement that may have mingled with the expectant hope for nine months. How do you prepare your heart to give birth to Immanuel?

How do you silence the fears and slay the dragons that threaten to destroy the hope you've been given?

How do you keep the fears at bay when your are waiting to give birth to the Holy One?

Is it not in trusting? 

" . . . let it be to me according to your word."

She had faith.

In trusting her doubt was turned to praise and her discouragement was turned to confidence in the Almighty, the holy and merciful God.

In beautiful yielding to His ways, she was blessed to bring forth, bear down and deliver the One who would deliver her. 

"For whatever was written in former days 

was written for our instruction, 

that through endurance and 

through the encouragement of the Scriptures

 we might have hope."

The mystery was made known to us that we may be secure in the person of Christ.

The mystery was planned before the foundation of the world.

And the mystery never leaves us uncertain of our purpose.

The mystery is Christ.

His personal presence in my life.

***

So in times of waiting, I need turn from worry and hold fast to the truth. 

Trust that He who is the mystery, dwells in me. 

Believe that He who is my Deliver will hold me by His grace.

Cling to the hope that not only lies in the manger at Christmas but the in the mercy of the Cross.

The Movement of God ~ The Merciful Heart of God to Save Miserable Souls

We cry out for peace and find it in none other but Him.

The Word who dwelt among us—

Christ, who created all things and in whom all things consist.

He came in flesh.

He took the very form of man He had made in His own image that we might have hope in this dark world.

This is the breath-taking wonder and grace of the incarnation.

Yes, weary hearts wait for hope from Him who became human.

***

So in this miserable world we wait in silence for God alone.

As Mary waited for God Almighty to come from her womb, she—

Surrendered herself to the impossible—

God visited a virgin.

As Mary marvelled at the movement of God, full of mercy, He—

Sent forth His Son to become the Saviour—

God becomes mystery.

***

He saw the misery of this world and moved with mercy.

And the mystery is this: God not only with us, but Christ in us.

We wait in silence, until, like Mary, our quieted souls can sing:

“My soul magnifies the Lord,

and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, 

for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant. 

For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed; 

for he who is mighty has done great things for me,

and holy is his name. 

And his mercy is for those who fear him

from generation to generation."

"If God were only all mighty and holy there would be no hope for us at all. If God were only all mighty and holy then we should be all blotted out, the whole world would be destroyed. There would be no salvation. But thank God for this little 'and' . . . 'and His mercy'. Mercy - this is the thing that saves us. Grace and mercy go together. Grace comes before mercy."  "Grace is love and favour toward those who do not deserve it because of their guilt;  kindness and goodness revealed to those who don't deserve it because they are guilty.  "Mercy is love toward those who are not merely guilty but who are miserable in their guilt and miserable because they are guilty."  "God looks down and sees mankind in its mercy, in its agony, in its pain." ~Martyn Lloyd-Jones

The misery of the world made Him look down with compassion and mercy that we might have hope in Him.

That is why God sent His Son as a babe to Bethlehem.

That is why Christ incarnate humbled Himself on a hill at Calvary.

That is why we can sing His praise and rejoice in hope as humans waiting for Heaven.

Words of Wisdom for the Weekend ~ Slow down this Christmas Season, Breath in the Grace of God's Greatest Gift

"He will not burden you. He will not break you. He will bless you—the God of invincible reliability, the God who has infinite resources, the God who is insistent love . . . You can always breath when you know all is grace." 

"You must feel the fullness of your own pitcher before you trust the pouring out of yourself."

"'It is not use for you to attempt to sow out of an empty basket, for that would be sowing nothing but wind," wrote Spurgeon.'"

"So slow down and feel the wind. Listen to carols just a little bit longer. Linger in the quiet and taste the grace of now, and know that He is God and He is good." 

". . . and the greatest present you always have to give is His presence—looking into someone's eyes as you listen, refusing the wrong of rush, lingering long enough to really listen—to everything. "

~Ann Voskamp, 'The Greatest Gift'

***

{Words for Wisdom for the Weekend: These are words that I have been challenged or encouraged by that I have read throughout my week that I kept pondering; words that I couldn't get off my mind and heart throughout my week. 

For other Words of Wisdom for the Weekend posts see here.}

Laugh at the Impossible ~ Reflecting on the Hilarity of the Gospel in My Life

She was sitting on the vanity in the bathroom and I was brushing her little white baby teeth; telling her to ‘open up’ and ‘spit it out' when I looked up.

I quickly averted my gaze for I did not like what was staring back. I've never liked seeing myself in a mirror.

But in those few seconds, something caught my eye so I glanced back for a closer examination. I  realized that the lines I was now scrutinizing were etched in frown lines.

I ran a simple test and smiled a goofy smile and the lines disappeared. I frowned and there they were.

Making a complete fool of myself in front of my little girl, I thought to myself that I really need to smile more. I realized that for the frown lines to be leaving their mark, I must be furrowing my brow and hanging my lips down a whole lot more than turning up the corners of my mouth.



I know I take myself too seriously too much of the time.

I know I let the mundaneness and the stresses of life dictate.

I know I have told the kids a thousand times to pick up their things or finish their work or come set the table and I huff and puff and mumble how nobody listens to me. The milk spills and the bills flow in wave upon wave and the washing machine breaks and my immediate thought is how inconvenient life can be. How it interferes with my plans.

I feel the weight of raising these children up right and fear that most of the time I am failing.

I think that I need to be the perfect wife, mother, daughter, sister, friend, Christian.

I think of the missing family member, and the marriage imploding, and doctors that can’t do anything with me and I just have to wait until I get really bad and start to faint and then they will see if they can fix my heart, and another MRI scheduled that I'm trying not to worry about.

And I say it, with tears welling up, that life's not fair, even though I know that it has nothing to do with fair.

With all this, how am I supposed to take myself lightly? When do I have time to smile, to laugh?

Oh, don't me wrong, I really do love to laugh. A good hard belly laugh with tears streaming down till it hurts kind of laugh.

It is just that the seriousness of life too often takes over.

Or, rather, we fix our eyes on the things that can be seen in this life, instead of the unseen things that are eternal.



The writer of post over at The Rabbit Room caught my attention with these words about Abraham and Sarah:

‘ . . . the joyful laughter of a couple who understand how outlandishly they have been blessed . . . They laughed sardonically when they heard the prediction. They laughed for joy when the prediction came true. So they named their boy “Laughter.”’

I read this post just days after seeing my reflection in the bathroom mirror. And I recognized the truth that, yes, I take myself far too seriously.

The writer quotes G.K. Chesterton:

‘It is really a natural trend or lapse into taking one’s self gravely, because it is the easiest thing to do. . . . For solemnity flows out of men naturally; but laughter is a leap. It is easy to be heavy: hard to be light.’

That’s me!

It is easy to be heavy. It comes naturally for me ~ the frown lines etched in aging skin reveal all.

How often I fail to see the hilarity of the Gospel in my life.

‘There’s a deep pleasure in the gospel that nobody talks about very much, and it is the pleasure of saying, “Oh, What a fool I have been! I was so sure I knew how this thing was going to turn out. I shaped my life around a foolish assumption that the world was telling me the truth about itself and my place in it. I was so wrong! Halleluiah! I lived in fear of things that had no power to harm me! I thought I had to exert my will and get my way! But now I don’t have to anymore. Halleluiah!”’

I was/am nothing and yet, God by His unbelievable amazing grace has saved me. He called me ‘out of darkness into his marvelous light.’



It is the season of waiting.

We have so much to rejoice over. To laugh at the impossible because of a babe lying in a manger. God in a manger. God with us.

‘[T]he Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.’

Oh, to laugh.

To laugh like the 90 year old mother of nations. The mother who laughed at the prediction. And laughed again when the promise came true.

I have more reason to laugh than to just change my frown lines into laugh lines.

God has done the impossible.

The shoot has come from the stump of Jesse. The root out of dry ground.

He knew mundane and He knew brokenness and pain. He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

He has welcomed me into His kingdom.

He has told me to ‘count it all joy . . .  when you meet trials of various kinds’ that the testing will develop perseverance to bring me to maturity.

And so we wait.

Wait for the Greatest Advent ~ His coming again!

And in the waiting I will laugh!

And how it will light up my countenance and restore joy in my heart.











*A post from the archive with a 'Five Minute Friday' editing.

***

Linking with Five Minute Friday at Lisa-Jo's place. This week the prompt is: Reflect

Officially, the rules are:

1. Write for 5 minutes  {Full disclosure: I spent a little more time on this post}

2. Link up at Lisa-Jo's  and invite others to join in.

3. And then absolutely, no ifs, ands or buts about it, you need to visit the person who linked up before you & encourage them in their comments. Seriously. That is, like, the rule. And the fun. And the heart of this community...

The Good News that Brings Hope to Our Hearts

Our hearts are desperate for hope.

Are our ears deaf, eyes blind to the hope that has come?

The good news was heralded by angels to humble shepherds.

The Messiah had come down to bring peace. 

An army of heaven lit up the night sky with praise.

“Glory to God in the highest, 
and on earth peace among those 
with whom he is pleased!”

reached the lowliest of ears.

The Saviour had been born in a stable and the news reached Shepherds on a hillside.

To those low to the earth, came the earth-shattering good news.

There was a heavenly army shouting praises to God over a field because the Light of the world come from heaven was in a feeding trough.

We have hope in this dark world. Emmanuel - God with us - has come. 

We do not need to worry about how humble our work, how simple our words, how small our world.

The Messiah came as a baby, born in a stable, in the little town of Bethlehem. 

How more small, simple, and humble could he come? 

He left the heights of heaven and made himself nothing.

Whatever our present circumstances, we need not be concerned, for our joy is in the One who was wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in a manger because there was no room in the inn, that He might suffer on a blood-stained cross, be laid in a grave, and be raised again that we might have eternal hope.

We seemed to be concerned whether we are 'enough' these days. So many days I feel like I don't have even two fish and five loaves of bread to offer up. Weary moments when I feel low to the ground watching over a few children.




But we are waiting. Groaning and waiting for a coming. For the Christ who has come is coming again.

"The eternal future must come far before the fleeting trifles of to-day; you must let the things which are seen sink, and bid the "things not seen as yet" rise in all their matchless grandeur and reality before your eyes. You must give up chasing butterflies and shadows, and pursue things eternal. My soul immortal pines only for immortal joys. I leave my present lot to be appointed of the Lord as he wills, so long as he will shed his love abroad in my heart." (Spurgeon)

We have the good news. It brings great joy. And peace on earth for those with whom God is pleased. 

A peace on earth because we enjoy an eternal presence with Emmanuel. God with us and us with God.

Let us go with haste like the Shepherds and make known that which we have heard with our ears and seen with our eyes and believed in our hearts.