So....will you come sliding into Christmas on a a wing and a prayer, diving for home under the tag, or will you jog around third base and on into Christmas morning, smiling and waving your cap to the sold-out host of angels cheering you on from the bleachers?
Are you lying awake at night, dreading the beginning of the end, or are you jumping up and down like a kid on Christmas Eve, refusing to go to sleep in anticipation of what’s to come?A few weeks ago, the holiday panic started rising up in me--until I remembered past Christmases, seasons when things were even more hectic and stressful. Specifically, I recalled the years I finally admitted I couldn’t do it all, and turned it over to God. I mean really let go of all of it.
I embraced the truth: If it absolutely MUST be done, God will make a way, and it WILL be done. (Can I get an Amen?)
Besides, Jesus may come back tomorrow! Then what would all the gifts and trimmings matter? Nada.
As a result of my letting go, nothing critical was ever left undone. My stress level, however, went way down, and my joy level went way up.
That was God.
And He doesn’t just work on major holidays.
Whenever I don’t worry about it, just do what I can (or what I chose to on occasion) and let God work out the details, the details start ‘mysteriously’ start falling into place ‘on their own’. [wink]
This week, Amazon emailed me twice to notify me of a status change on orders scheduled for post-Christmas delivery. Everything for Christmas will be here PRE-Christmas now, plus my sister, daughter, and I all got boxes a day early.
My husband was offered overtime for the first time in months, and he’s working late all week. I’ve been able to retrieve and hide the boxes from Amazon before he sees them. Plus, the overtime will help TREMENDOUSLY to pay the January credit card bills.
God is Good, all the time!
"It just keeps getting better, doesn’t it??" ~Lisa Mikatarian
Yes, Lisa, it does, when you ‘let go and let God’, or as Carrie Underwood would woud say, when we let ‘Jesus take the wheel’.
“Unto you is born this day a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.”*“And you shall call his name JESUS, for He will save his people from their sins.”*
And this baby Jesus grew into a man who brought PEACE ON EARTH through his life, death, and resurrection!!
Until He steps foot on the new earth (and he will!), His Peace, in the person of the Holy Spirit, resides IN us, not AROUND us.
If you don’t know this kind of peace yet, God the Father offers it to you: Peace in your heart. Forgiveness for your mess-ups. Life abundant. Life never ending--in His presence.
Ah…the perfect Christmas present.
Will you accept it?
If you aren’t sure, will you attend a church service this Christmas and find out more?
And if you’ve received it, will you share the perfect present with someone else this Christmas?
Christmas LOVE and Blessings!
Cat
~~~
PS: Wouldn’t it be ironic if God chose the morning of Christmas Eve for His Son and our Savior Jesus to return? Would He find find us stressing over our preparations for the end of the Advent or joyfully anticipating the Return of the King?
*Luke, 2:11, Matthew 1:21
Photos:
http://shannonphilpott.com/2011/12/15/the-christmas-balancing-act/
Light of the World
http://whowillyouserve.blogspot.com/2010_12_01_archive.html
Gift
http://www.sxc.hu/profile/canna_w
