No Pictures...Just Words

As we begin to celebrate these final days of Advent and start opening presents, eating meals, spending time with friends and family, attending church services, I need to STOP and take some time to write, pray, and BE STILL.

We do celebrate the birth of our Savior, the promised Messiah; we look to what will come at Easter that brings reconciliation between God and His people. But Jesus was fully human and had a fully human mother who bore Him and then watched Him die. Even during Jesus' life, HE WEPT. Mary rejoiced over the gift of Jesus, but as a mother she knew the loss that was coming on Calvary.

For those who have lost, they don't forget...

Possibly I know now what the soldier feels when a bullet crashes through his heart. Mark Twain about the loss of his daughter Jean.

"[Mark Twain] puts so much feeling into so few words and gives voice our first feelings when we are required to face a devastating tragedy. Our hearts break and we weep tears that seem to rise from the depth of our souls and we wonder how we will ever get through this moment. But we do get through. The question was never whether or not we will get through but what we will be like on the other side." Bill Douglas

For those who are suffering, the pain is still there...

2 Corinthians 4:7 – But we have this treasure in jars of clay,to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. ⁸We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; ⁹persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; ¹⁰ always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. . .

Today, I think of my Aunt Dar whose life seemed to be cut short...leaving two young girls and a husband. I think of my grandparents who have buried a child.

I think of Bubba who lived a long life. She was a Proverb 31 wife. She was a mother and grandmother who loved her children dearly. She is dearly missed, she has left a legacy that we all will not forget.

My heart breaks for friends - Tyler Anderson, Heather Stevenson, Bill Douglas, Tim Collins, Grant McDaniel - who celebrate Christmas without parents that were, for their whole life, THERE.

I think of Brent and Nancy, Johnny and Carla Morton, the Bergs, Don and Fara Avery, Jim and Susan Jackson, the Slocumbs...all who buried children way to young.

I pray for the families of troops who have died while defending our country...and others who await a safe return.

I pray for the families and victims of child molestation that has been brought out this year. I pray for it to STOP, and the victims will heal.

I pray for those suffering in different ways...not being able to be with family, abandoned kids, homeless, those who have lost their jobs, anyone suffering from mental, emotional, physical disorders.

I pray this Christmas will be one that we look at what we don't have and remember, but look at what we do have...the Cross on which Christ died, the inheritance our Father gives us.

For those who cannot reconcile on this earth, there is a perfect hope that Heaven will bring a reconciliation for ALL Christ has called. So, I take this time to remember, cry, pray. And tonight we will begin our Christmas celebrations.

"God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work." 2 Corinthains 9:8