04 Dec Blue Holiday

Posted at 10:43h in Advent, Making The Most of Now by

The holiday season is full of joy for so many of us, but it’s full of sorrows for others. Maybe COVID is changing the way you thought this season would look, or maybe you’re battling sickness, depression, or the fear of so much uncertainty. Maybe someone you love in is their own battle… or perhaps has succumbed to a battle. And now, you are just learning to walk again, live again, breathe again and experience some element of joy again in a season that is so obviously absent of the ones you love.

If you are grieving and hurting, this holiday season is going to be dramatically different and painfully hard. But… Jesus! Psalm 34:18 says, “The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and he saves the crushed in spirit.”

There were so many mornings when I was going through cancer treatment that all I could do is go downstairs, prop up two great big pillows in the corner of my sofa, rest my head back and just think of God holding me in his arms. I couldn’t pray. I couldn’t speak. I could barely breathe. I know it’s like that for a lot of people who are suffering right now. I’ve seen it, I’ve lived it.

I know that when we don’t have the breath to utter a word of prayer— we can rest in his arms, the arms of the one who breathes over us with his love. So, go to Him in this hard season. The Lord is there and He will wrap His arms are around you. I pray that you will have the most palpable sense of him near you, because he so favors those who are suffering— he’s never closer than when we are brokenhearted.

I love you so much.
xo– P❤️

PS: As we close out this year, my hope is that we would not wish away 2020. I truly believe this year will prove to be one of the most significant years of our lives… in the way it has marked us, wounded us, made us vulnerable, and how God has used it and prepared us for the years ahead. In this advent season, I encourage you to go to the breathing room and take time to focus on the benefits and blessings you received in 2020. It’s in this space of gratitude that we find that what we thought was “so much less” is in fact “so much more” than we imagined.