Hey, beautiful one, it’s a fragile world and we’re pretty breakable in its crazy chaos and confusion. The fears are real and the worries are such obstacles in our journey. Sometimes we just feel really cracked, and bruised and beaten and battered and just plain broken. But, you gotta know that’s ok because for all the broken, there’s healing, and mending and repair and yeah, although frozen, cracked bubbles can’t be fixed, souls really can be and are, because through the eyes of Jesus we are perfected in our faith and in our walk! Oh, what a delight to know this One who fixes and forgives our fault lines and heals and seals our broken, to give new life and a new beginning. Oh yeah, Broken is beautiful through the eyes of Jesus, and so are “you!”
“The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.” Psalm 34:18
“He heals the brokenhearted And binds up their wounds.” Psalm 147:3
It’s a perfect love story, isn’t it? The kind of love that reaches to where we are, and loves us lavishly in spite of ourselves. A love that accompanies an incomprehensible grace, that doesn’t leave us where it finds us. Oh how sweet it is, this Agape love; so kind, so compassionate, so unconditional, so amazing, so extensive, so inclusive, so across the board, so accepting and so embracing and beautiful one, we sit so unworthy and yet so worthy in the name of Jesus, because God loved us while we were yet sinners. It’s a heavenly and divine love story! For the believer, one of those kinds of stories with a happily-ever-after ending because of our hope of glory and life eternal! Its measure is vast and its value is priceless!
What a gift it is to us today! Open it for yourself and see.
So, in all you have to do on this last day of our Advent journey, through all the preparation, through all the hurt, or sadness or disappointment, He whispers, “I’ll love you through it and together we can do this!”
1 John 4:9 “This is how God’s love was revealed among us: God sent His one and only Son into the world so that we might live through Him”
Romans 5: 8 “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
And so here we are, you and I and we and us, almost at the close of our Advent journey, but not yet.
There’s still another precious gift that was ushered into the world that night so long ago. A gift that lives on for us, for you, right where you are today. Ahh, it’s a love so unconditional it can make us blush at the very thought of our underserving selves! It’s a love that doesn’t care where we’ve been or what we’ve done, or what we’ve been up to, because it’s a love that gives a second chance, a third and fourth chance. It’s a sweet, inconceivable, all-encompassing love from a Heavenly Father who, to us that night, became flesh, to dwell among us, to live as we did. A God so perfect, so holy, so forgiving, came down to love us with compassion. Yeah, beautiful soul, Love came down that night all the way from heaven to earth, from God’s heart to ours. That’s why we celebrate this joyous season.
Without His love our empty shells of life can’t even begin to understand the Hope He brings, the peace He gives or the joy He provides. So today, on this last lap of the advent journey, unwrap His love right there, right where you find yourself; smack dab in In the middle of debris, loneliness, chaos, rejection, loss, isolation, fear and pain and all the conundrum of all the hard places. It’s the greatest gift you’ll receive this season! As a matter of fact, it’s a gift for a lifetime, that will keep giving over and over and over again for the rest of your days on this earth. When God loves and when you know His love, you’ll want to share it generously with those who need it.
Zephaniah 3:17 “The LORD your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.”
Deuteronomy 7:9 “Know therefore that the LORD your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations.”
The angels proclaimed it at His coming and Oh can’t we all use a little peace today? Peace on the earth and peace in the soul? It’s one of the precious gifts He brought to earth when He came to heal the sin issues. Although the whole world doesn’t get it yet, the hearts and minds of those who invite Him in can! It’s a quiet sense of well-being even when all is not well.
Thing is when His people, His followers, experience such a precious peace, they can share it with a world in pain and help to make a difference. It seems we can hurt or we can heal through our choices, our actions, our behaviours and our words. Jesus came ‘kind’ to bring kindness and breathe peace into our chaos. Let’s go out ‘kind’ as He did and breathe even just a touch of His peace to others, through our words and actions. Today, He shows us the way of peace through His commandments and if we follow Him and focus on Him we won’t get lost in distractions!
Luke 2: 14 “Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!”
Hope and Healing In Hard Places 