merry christmas friends

  

“Nevertheless, that time of darkness and despair shall not go on forever.”

- Isaiah 9:1-

Friends, I wish I could send each and every one of you a Christmas card this year! 

Please know that from the bottom of my little heart I am sending warmest wishes for a wonderful Christmas to you and your loved ones. May you be abundantly blessed by His love, joy, comfort, and most of all His peace these next few days and as we approach 2025.

I am taking a bit of a break from work and blogging these next few days and look forward to connecting and will be back here on the blog regularly starting Wednesday, January 1st! From now until then, I am sending joy across this space. 

I know that some of you are feeling very "unseen" and "forgotten" this Christmas season... please know you are not. I have been thinking a lot about Joseph this Advent season... his faithfulness to God and specifically his humility into a story that he presumably imagined to be quite different. Matthew 1:19 says, "Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly". 

I have read that scripture so many times and yet this year it has truly stuck out to me. Despite Joseph's (understandable) heartbrokenness of his dreams and desires he decided to divorce Mary quietly. As it would have become evident that Mary was pregnant people would have than assumed Joseph was the father and that he than had had a change of heart after being intimate with her. He, and not Mary, would have been seen as the dishonorable party in the relationship. Her dignity would have remained pure and covered. 

In the few and simple words, read nearly every Christmas Eve service around the world, we find a man who showed mercy, forgiveness, and grace and despite feeling hurt and betrayed refused to humiliate and denounce her to the public. Joseph must have felt very unseen, forgotten, and a bit lost at this point... his hopes and dreams shattered, and yet still offering mercy, grace and forgiveness. It has also struck me that there must have been so many different times as Jesus was growing up that he would have witnessed this in his childhood years...

This Christmas... if you feel forgotten or a story looks very different than you were imagining... my prayer for you is simple. May you feel specifically and tenderly loved by God in unique and personal ways as you step forward into mercy, grace and forgiveness. May the Hope and promise of this season gently remind you the Lord loves you beyond compare. If you don't have a personal relationship with Jesus please email me. I would love to send you a Bible or a devotional or pray with you and share more about Him.

Merry Christmas and thank you for making this such a wonderful space and community to come to each and every single day. I can't wait for 2025 and all of the beautiful adventures that are coming in this new year!

Merry Christmas!