As Christmas is just a couple of days away, I want to offer a word of encouragement to all who are suffering especially financially. I don't know if this will sound like an encouragement to some, but it is offered in the spirit of encouragement at least.
I sit here, freezing in the cold of the house, we have insufficient heat, our pipes are frozen and so there is no water. Our 19 year old son is in Iraq this Christmas, his second away from family and friends. Our third son is battling his 3rd kidney infection since June, a condition that threatens to give him blood poisoning. The emergency room drs. want him to be screened by a urologist, but we can't get an appointment. My father in law had a valve replaced the week before Christmas, they are in florida and we can't travel to visit, nor can we afford to call. We live at about 1/2 poverty level, and just lost $500 of food money a month from our budget. And that is just the serious stuff. As I sit here and type this, I feel an urge to cry, to allow the tears to stream down my checks and just simply sob. I feel an urge to cry out to God, "why have you forsaken us, why have you turned your back on us, why do you not hear our cries". And then, somewhere in the silent corners of my mind, I am reminded.
I look around me and hear the sounds of my children as they grow anxious for the joys of Christmas morn, doesn't matter what if anything they get, Christmas is upon us. I feel some heat creep from the basement, and think of the wood that was given to us, wood that will keep the house at 40 or above this winter. I crawl out from under the covers and feel the weight of many blankets, a gift of warmth on cold, cold nights. I think of what we might have for food this day, and am reminded of the turkey and deer meat that we were given and know that this day, we will eat. I listen for the phone to ring and know that if it does not, my husband has not yet been laid off. I listen to the weather and know that within a couple of days, the temps are to warm at least to the 40's. And as I remember the many blessing that we do have, I know, from the things of the past, that God is indeed listening, God is careing for us. God is indeed our living God who has not forsaken us. He has not abandoned us. No matter what we feel, it is our God who knows what we need and if we rest in His arms, if we learn to trust in His care, we will know the love that others dismiss by thier blindness and focus on the things they do not have. I am reminded of the lessons of the past, and know that what others pass off as luck, is really God's provision and it is in this hope that I will face Christmas, not worrying about the cold or the lack of water. Not worrying about our children, but rejoicing that our God reigns, that our God lives, that we are Loved and cared for, even when our eyes are blind.
And if, this love is extended to us, how much more to you, you who are so special and so chosen by God to know the wonders of Him. Wonders that I could not even hope to know. You who have been chosen, singled out to be loved. You who have known such grace of our Lord. You who have been favored among men, you, even more than I, are cared for by our Lord, loved unconditionally, unfailingly, by God Himself, but also by a host that have gone before you. This Christmas, allow yourself eyes to see all that is yours, the gifts that others dismiss, the wonders of our Lord and King.
