The excitement of decorating the Christmas tree comes early at our house and so our tree decor with it’s twinkling lights has been up since mid November! All was well for a time but the lights appear to be getting tired as they’ve had a couple of strands needing replacement to keep the tree sparkling at it’s best. Another strand now has just gone out leaving the bottom of the tree in the shadows. It seems to happen every year ~ burn out!! It’s quite frustrating to look and see a dark band or patch around a once beautifully lit, tree. It made me think that maybe that’s the way we are as we spend so much energy in preparation and by the time we celebrate the Heavenly Birth our twinkle is gone and our sparkle has dissipated into burn out. We’re worn out and the lights have dimmed or perhaps gone out altogether. On this Eve of Christmas, Make sure to relax and breathe and let the grace of God bring blessing and healing as you revive and rejuvenate from your tired aching bones and weariness.
<3 <3
Advent
Oh yeah, it’s another day, but it’s another day scheduled into the beautiful, Advent season and it’s a day when we can continue our celebration of a royal, heavenly birth. So in a quiet moment take some time to ponder it! Take time to take your mind and your heart and your soul to a place of celebration, to that stable in Bethlehem where it all happened. Where the birth of one who was born to save the world was placed in a lowly manger. One born under God’s divine plan to pick us up from our defeated life of sin and give new life to the broken, the hurting, and the rejected. One who heals the pitiful pain of the broken spirit and the wounded, beautiful soul. One who came to crush the enemy underfoot and lead us onward ~ surely and steadfastly, through the long, daunting journey of life.
Oh yeah, it’s another day but it’s a day to praise Jesus our Lord, for all the good things and the not so good things that come our way. He is life, He is healing and He is victory! Rest at that manger scene in your heart today! Let it warm you and thrill you as you See Him, the Christ child and realize afresh and anew our glorious reason to celebrate even on a mundane, yet another day
Luke 2: 6 & 7
“While they were there, the days were completed for her to give birth. And she gave birth to her firstborn son; and she wrapped Him in cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.”
So when the voice of confusion does its rant against your mind and steals your peace, and leaves you feeling on the brink of nothing but chaos and failure, you need to call a “time out” while you wait on the Lord for His divine direction. His voice won’t compete with the noise of your chaotic surroundings or the noise levels of your panic, fear or worry. He wants your trust! Your complete and honest trust for your problem. Yeah, He works in that calmness of total surrender when noisy confusion dissipates and melts into tranquil moments with Him and His sovereignty. He’s all-knowing and all-powerful. All authority is His and lies in His capable hands. He saves, He keeps, He sustains. He heals, He cleanses and He forgives. Who more could mentor you through the tough decisions and choices that lie ahead? He’s promised to guide and lead the way for His children. Psalm 32:8-9 “I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you should go; I will counsel you with My eye upon you. Do not be as the horse or as the mule which have no understanding, Whose trappings include bit and bridle to hold them in check, Otherwise they will not come near to you.” So ~ beautiful soul, don’t hide behind confusion and stubborn will. Do not let one more thing weight you down! Not one thing! Go to your maker! Get with Him for counsel and help in your time of need. You’ll find unconditional love there! You’ll find Him a God of mercy, grace and compassion. He waits to hear from you. He waits to quiet the noise of your confusion, and heal your wounds and mend your brokenness. He waits to open new doors of opportunity and the grace to rise to the challenge. Trust Him!
Complete Trust
“Make me know Your ways, O LORD; Teach me Your paths. Lead me in Your truth and teach me, For You are the God of my salvation, and my hope is in You all day long.”
Psalm 25:4-5
“You, in Your great compassion, Did not forsake them in the wilderness; The pillar of cloud did not leave them by day, To guide them on their way, Nor the pillar of fire by night, to light for them the way in which they were to go.”
Nehemiah 9:19
Oh yes, He mends, He repairs, He restores and yes, He breaks, but only to remold a stronger character and spiritual maturity within our beautiful souls. Sometimes the break is just in two and sometimes it’s a fragmented heap of debris and ashes left at our feet. But He does care and He is there for the fix ~ the divine fix that goes right to the heart and the deep root of the problem and begins to heal the valuable groundwork of our brokenness. It’s not just a band-aid that God uses to make it all better but He reaches down with a love that’s so unconditional it can make us blush deep within our undeserving selves. He reaches down with an amazing grace beyond our comprehension and a rich mercy going beyond anything we can fathom. Why us? Why Me? But He does! He goes all the way beyond the call of duty to take compassion on us in our heaps of trouble and fragmented broken spirits. Why Us? Why Me? Simply because we’re valuable to Him and He cares. Allow Him to pick up the remains and fashion them back together in a beautiful, brilliant way ~ soothed and saturated with the oil of His healing, filling and cushioning all the jagged edges of all the shattered pieces! Oh that healing oil of grace is a beautiful thing to the one in need. Reach out for it today and accept it, if it’s what you need to make your beautiful soul more beautiful ~ more strong ~ more healed ~ more loved. He’s got you today, beyond the brokenness of the cross and back again. Take Him up on it!
Psalm 34:18
The LORD is close to the broken-hearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.
Psalm 147:3
He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.
