Christmas Bells

Christmas is "the most wonderful time of the year." Yet, for so many it brings heartache. I can't help but think about the new reality for so many people at this Christmas.  A family whose young son is paralyzed after a diving accident, so thankful to be home for the Christmas, but to a new reality.  Families who have lost children and wait longingly to be reunited with them in heaven.  Families out of work, families fighting illness, families with loved ones at war.

Last year after Christmas I was wondering where God was during all of this.  I read this from the Jesus Calling Devotional...a devotional written as if Jesus were talking to you.

"As this year draws to a close, receive my peace. This is still your deepest need, and I , your Prince of Peace, long to pour Myself into your neediness.  my abundance and your emptiness are a perfect match. I designed you to have no sufficiency of your own. I created you as a jar of clay, set apart for sacred use. I want you to be filled with my very being, permeated through and through with Peace."

And I heard this beautiful song, below, by Casting Crowns, based on the Henry Wadworth Longfellow song of the same title.  "God is not dead, nor does he sleep." God is with us, God is for us, God is in us.

There is pain.  But there is peace in knowing Jesus.  May you know the Peace of Jesus at Christmas and forever.