Category: Hope In Hard Places

Shalom

Shalom and PEACE to you today!

Not only does our Saviour’s birth bring Hope, but His birth and very presence usher in a peace that passes all understanding! It’s a peace that transcends a fear of “What’s next?”, or the dreadful fear of ‘What’s going on?” It’s a perfect peace that the world can’t give and the world can’t take away no matter what this old world brings to our table. So yeah, really as serious as COVID is and as controversial as the vaccine is, and as many varied opinions as there are out there, they pale in comparison to the Peace that our Saviour offers to the very soul of us in our deepest distress. Because it’s all ok anyway isn’t it? If we know this one born to deliver the world from its sin, we know we’re in good hands in His safekeeping and as His divine prophetic plan unfolds before our eyes, it surpasses any crazy plan the world and its top leaders have in store for us. It’s a generous gifting from our Lord to us. Yeah, Jesus, Our Prince of Peace, came to share it with us and His sweet peace is not as the world gives but rather a sense of well-being welling up within ourselves. A peace that comes from our willingness to change and repent and do a turn about of direction. To walk with Him in His way of salvation and in His ways of abundance. It comes from simple trust in our Prince of Peace, the sweet Savior of the broken and hurting and those beaten and scarred and torn up by sin’s choices.

” Shalom” may His favour rest on you today as you seek Him and find healing in Him for such a time as this.“The LORD bless you, and keep you; The LORD make His face shine on you, And be gracious to you; The LORD lift up His countenance on you, And give you peace!

”Numbers 6:23-26

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The Hope Of A Saviour

Christ’s coming as a newborn baby was God’s gift of humility to humanity. God, the creator of all things, left the brilliance and the highest of heavenly heights and sweet and majestic glories of heaven to enter into our world! He came a fragile, helpless baby in need of love, care, nurturing and the tender hearts of a mom and dad. His name was Jesus and He grew into a child, a teen and on to a young adult! He walked among us experiencing life as we know it yet because of His divine genealogy and inheritance, He was without sin. Even so, and even still today, He knows your pain and He feels it! He knows the battle that wars on in your temptations! He walked there! He knows your fears, your failures and your complete and utter despair! His humility took Him to the cross and His death took Him to the grave. His resurrection, took Him to the heights of Heaven, to be seated at the right hand of His divine Father God!

His life, death and resurrection provide a solution for our sin problem, our despair and our hopelessness.

This Christmas Advent season of celebration, savour that sweet and powerful hope that His birth begins to bring into a world of need, for such a time as this! Yeah, His death and resurrection went down in history and because of His whole gift of sacrifice, there is now a totally awesome new life in Christ available for us today. He can be present in our lives as we live them out daily in His presence.

Seek Him, as the wise men did, find Him as the shepherds did, Praise Him as Mary did, right where you are, in your less than perfect surroundings and situations, and be in awe of a Savior and a mediator, sent by God, who came to serve, to seek and to save.

Isaiah’s prophesy of so many years ago did come true when the promise of a Heavenly Royal King to be born was a promise of hope for a needy people. Let that same Hope fill you and your beautiful soul with a glorious wonder and anticipation as we begin this first week of Advent!

Isaiah 9:6
“For to us a child is born, to us, a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”

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Deafening Silence

So, this week, as we move toward Advent and begin to swing open the gates of the celebration season, be sure to listen in to the deep silences for the cries of the suffering! Those who suffer from the loneliness and pain of the time of year that it is! That alone is enough but then top it with the isolation, chaos and fears of COVID and it makes for a time of desperation and aloneness for many. The silence may be deafening and may well be the loudest cry that we fail to hear through the busy noise of our busy days. Philippians 2:4 can be a big reminder to us if we ponder the words of Paul who wrote to encourage the believers,

“Do not be concerned about your own interests, but also be concerned about the interests of others.”

Yeah, Paul knew that to refresh a soul would indeed bring refreshment to the giver as he penned words of encouragement from behind prison bars. So as we approach the sweet and beautiful celebration of Advent, let’s listen deeply into the deepest recesses of our worlds for the voice that cries the loudest in silence. ❤

They may be the ones with the most words, the biggest smile, and the most success but if we listen with our insightful ears we may hear a silent sadness in the heart of which they don’t dare speak, because the hurt is too real and the pain too great.

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The Perfect Plan

Ok, so the journey is long, the steps are difficult and the end just doesn’t seem to be in view. Don’t we just trudge along sometimes with head down and heart heavy and steps weary?

I can only imagine a couple that did the same as they journeyed to Bethlehem for their government duties with taxes to pay and deadlines to meet and bones just as weary as ours! Yet with strength waning and with great apprehension amidst simple trust, nagging deep within their souls ~ they made their way.

Yeah, Joseph the obedient through thick and thin, and Mary ~ heavy with child; the Savior of the World, experiencing events so complex and hard to comprehend they made their way ~ just because it was God’s plan and they were a part of it. Sometimes His plans are not easy, but it was a beautiful plan, a plan for saving the world and it had to be and it had to be just “precise” in its timing and just perfect right down to the final straw.

No room, and all alone ~ but no! Not alone! Not even for a second, because God was guiding every lonely step of the way, even through their weariness. So beautiful, weary you with soul heavy, and heart-aching know that your steps are ordered by this same sovereign God that led the weary couple to Bethlehem! He directs with events so perfectly timed that we could never figure them out. He unravels the mess, the complications, the unanswered questions, the apprehension, and the fear laid right outright in heaps at your feet when you feel like throwing in the towel.
So don’t do it! He’s got it; whatever it is that has you bound in worry, so don’t give up! Mary went through what she went through for the ultimate purpose of delivering Christ to the world and presented us with a Savior and yeah, a beautiful example for us.

So, our purpose in this life is to do the same through our struggles and our situations! Whatever difficulty is heavy on your plate this advent season, let God lead you through it with precision as you deliver Christ to a needy world, through your faith and trust and joy even in the difficult.

Luke 1:35, 37

“The angel replied, ” The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the baby to be born will be holy and He will be called the Son Of God…For nothing is impossible with God.”

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