Happy New Year! It has been a few months since I have produced a prayer newsletter. I am happy to be writing again about life and the Lord.
Discomfort
John 3:4 - “How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!”
John 4:7-9 – “When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.) The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.)”
John 11:6, 21 - “So when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days.” “Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”
In reflecting on the previous year, the Christmas season always seems to hold lessons for me and 2022 was no exception. Our family was excited about all the plans we made. The grandchildren were going to be at our house on Christmas morning, for the first time in a number of years. Both grown children and their spouses would be with us Christmas Day. One of our parents was visiting from New York and so dinner was planned at our house for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. So many things to look forward to following the busy and stressful months of fall.
The holiday decorating was complete, and I was caught up in my daily Advent devotionals. I set my sights on achieving my long task list the week before Christmas. There were church services and other gatherings to attend. There were gifts to wrap, cookies to bake, friends to contact, and so much meal preparation to do. Relatives arrived and excitement grew! The house was abuzz with children, games, music, Christmas movies, whispers of secrets and wonder at what the Elf would next get into.
And, in the blink of an eye, everything changed.
The 2022 Christmas cold snap descended upon us and froze our warm hearts. A 50-degree house and no available technician to help for days, drove us from our home on Christmas Eve. We searched for space heaters, but there were none to be found. Instead of preparing Christmas Eve dinner, we prepared to leave the house. We longed to pack people around the table, instead we packed bags, and gifts, and food. We had hoped to carry on spirited conversation with our loved ones, instead, we carried disappointment and distress. Phone calls made, tempers flared, tears flowed and by day’s end, exhaustion set in. It would be days before we returned to our house (thanks to warming temperatures) and a week before a technician was able to come assess the problem.
Have you experienced disappointment, regret or stress when things don’t go as planned? There are many more details that I could share about all that went wrong with our holiday. As we got in the car to leave the house that evening, my sadness was evident on my wet cheeks, and my sweet husband said, “Lisa, God says all we need today is Him.” Even in this “first-world” kind of challenge, such a truth is easy to miss when our hearts are spun so tightly around the wrong hopes. So, amid all the mess, we chose to start seeing God in it.
In our unplanned circumstances, God showed up in numerous unplanned ways. In our search of stores for space heaters to prevent pipes from bursting, we ran into a friend from church. (You may think that isn’t odd, but I’m talking Tractor Supply on Christmas Eve!) Upon sharing what was going on with us, the friend drove to his home and retrieved a couple of space heaters and returned for our use. Our daughter’s in-laws invited us to stay with them for as long as we needed, we were with our children and grandchildren there, we had a warm bedroom in which to sleep, and we were welcomed with the love of God as if it were all planned. Relatives helped, meals were prepared elsewhere, and all the family was, in fact, together on Christmas – such blessings!
Those blessings just didn’t come packaged the way we expected, and the circumstances and timing made us very uncomfortable. Don’t you hate to be uncomfortable? I do. Granted, you and I may find comfort in very different ways, but it is something to which we cling tightly. My Christmas lesson for 2022? Hold loosely to the tidy and neatly bound packages of my expectations, and look for God in the mess because He is there as well.
Isn’t this lesson what Christ Himself was all about? From His birth to His ministry, from His lineage to His disciples, from His death to His resurrection, He was and is nothing if not unexpected. Most encounters with Christ that we read about in the Bible, were anything but comfortable. Those who clung to their rigid, self-importance, didn’t recognize the Messiah they were waiting for, and they deliberately destroyed Him.
How do you handle discomfort? It is often what it takes to dislodge attitudes, habits or comfort that begin to pull us from the true source of life. Remember this year that God is present in every circumstance, good or bad, comfortable or uncomfortable, planned or unexpected. I’ve determined to find Him because He is waiting for me there. How about you?
For HIS Glory,
Praises
God’s sovereignty
For God’s presence in all circumstance
For 130 volunteers in attendance of January workshops- becoming better equipped to serve God by ministering to children
For over 5,000 children currently enrolled in Good News Club©
Prayer Requests
For new church partnerships to sponsor schools – churches who will say YES and rise to the opportunity to minister to children
For God to provide for staff vacancies
For unity in the body of Christ
For boldness in sharing the Gospel
