If you are like me, you’re deep cleaning the house to receive guests for Christmas. And if you’re like me, you may be finding hidden treasures in the most unusual places, just waiting a holy pause for reflection. Among other treasures, I discovered an old Christmas newsletter from 2017, a very difficult year.
That was the year that we lost my step-father and inaugurated a series of difficult years with Dan and I losing both our parents. Then there was COVID and more loss of loved ones and good health, political upheavals that seeped into homes and communities and churches, and so much more.
Like Scrooge, I desperately needed to hear from my Christmas past. Intrigued, and reading past the typical dated personal updates, I wanted to see what my Christmas 2017 self could say of truth and cheer to Christmas 2024.
Sparing the typical personal elements, I give you the close of that Christmas newsletter “past:”
. . .
“It has been a wonder to see God at work around me this year. He has built on every little act of faith and work we offer, however faulty and childish the offering. He has provided for every kind of need in just the right and appropriate time. He forgives and receives each of us as His own. How great the Father’s love for us! How vast beyond all measure!
Every year solidifies and deepens my faith in God for the future. I look back on past Christmas letters in awe and wonder — even with all the unknowns faced and come through! How to express the glory of the Lord?
But I can testify that I have known Him and witnessed that His Word is Truth.
He is good.
He is Justice.
He is Mercy.
And He is all Love.
I am also aware of those for whom this hope has been grayed out in life through ignorance, rejection, fear, suffering, or depression.
How needy we are as humans to be loved, to belong in family with others, to be approved, and to be cared for in tangible ways and in ways that no man can see. We are, all of us, sick and need healing — not just every day, but every moment of every day.
No man can grant us the fulfillment of this need, save Christ.
He is the Father’s beloved Son, in whom is our Redemption and Restoration and Rejoicing!
“No ear may hear His coming, but in this world of sin
— Rector Philip Brooks (I835-1903) in “O Little Town of Bethlehem”
Where meek souls will receive Him still, our dear Christ enters in.”
This hymn is a promise for all, all the time. Christ is only a prayer away. I am asking the Lord that His hope will be a beacon of light to each of you now, in this new year through its trials and mysteries, and on to the bright Day of hope filled in full (Hebrews 11).”
“The Church does not superstitiously observe days, merely as days,
but as memorials of important facts.”
— Samuel Johnson
“Christmas is based on an exchange of gifts: the gift of God to man–His unspeakable gift of His Son, and the gift of man to God–when we present our bodies a living sacrifice.”
— Pastor Vance Havner
My Christmas 2024 self was lovingly embraced by this hope and truth, all the more because I found I could still say, “This is all true. Life has been hard, but He is always near, always working good, always hearing my prayers and actively engaged in bringing all things to His good and righteous purposes and in His perfect time.”
It was what I needed to hear — in addition to re-praying the Prayers of Psalm 119, specifically Nun and Samech when times are hardest. We will pick back up in 2025 with those octrains.
My dear friends and visitors, if you do know know this Prince of all Peace and King of all Kings, Come and inquire about Christ our Lord!
To all, have a very Merry Christmas knowing that you are loved, you belong to a family, and your life has meaning and purpose.
May God bless your New Year 2025!!
From Tamara at ReadPsalm119.com.
MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL SUBSCRIBERS AND VISITORS!
In our random selection of wonderful subscribers for December’s special Christmas gift, the winner is
David Kitz who blogs at his I Love the Psalms website (davidkitz.blog).
Please take a moment to visit his blog and also his author’s website at https://elklakepublishinginc.com/david-kitz/.
David, thank you for subscribing to ReadPsalm119.com! Look in your mailbox for these gifts to arrive soon. Merry Christmas!
[Correction was made to David’s personal blog site as well as his author’s page on Elk Lake Publishing, Inc.’s website. ]
