I lift up my eyes to the hills—
where does my
help come from?
My help comes from the Lord,
the Maker of heaven and
earth.
-Psalm 121:1-2
As
the Advent season is upon us and we anticipate Christmas and the celebration of
Christ’s birth, I am touched by this song:
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(Fun fact: I first
heard this song at the women’s retreat for the moms of kids with special needs…
And I had no clue Kristian Stanfill wrote/sings this song; I went to church
with him as a child. Praise the Lord for
his witness. And now as I am listening
to it again, I had not realized that the song closes with the verse I shared
above! Coincidence? I think not.
God must have this special word for us today!)
I particularly love these lyrics (with my thoughts in
the parentheses):
“My
God will not delay. (Therefore…) I
will not fear. (Why?) His promise is true. (I can trust…) My God will come
through always.”
Christmas
is all about waiting on the Lord.
Waiting for Emmanuel, “God with us.”
Waiting for the incarnational reality in our lives, desperately hoping
it will invade each crevice, each challenge we face. But are we waiting with certainty or with
disappointment?
I
assume there have been times in your life where it simply felt like God delayed. I’m sure it felt that way when
God was silent for the 400 years between the last Old Testament prophet and
Christ’s birth. It can certainly feel
like that in my life, as we continue to wait for John’s full healing. Hope fades as years pass. Fear takes up residence. Doubt creeps in and threatens to take over. Can you relate?
And
yet, we can look to the past. We can
borrow the faith of others. We can cling
to Scripture, knowing it feeds while the world’s meager offerings starve.
In all these things, we are reminded of God’s faithfulness. And deep down, we know it is true. Last
week, I had the great privilege of speaking at my dear friend’s church’s Sunday
night service. The service recognized five teenage girls who are in the Acteens
program, which is a group for 6th – 12th grade girls in
which they grow in their relationship with Christ by learning about and
participating in missions. I was an
Acteen myself and it was deeply formative in my life. My dear leader is still
one of my closest friends, and she recently started this new group at her
church in Florida. I shared our testimony
with the girls and church members, both giving them a glimpse into my life as gangly,
insecure, and anxious middle schooler and also sharing the struggles that
blindsided us as adults. I basically
encouraged these girls to begin to make their faith their own now, to build a
foundation that will carry them throughout their lives.
With the Acteens and Leta-Fern before the service |
I shared, "Because of my faith in Jesus that my parents,
mentors in my church, and I myself invested in during those tender, crucial teenage years, I couldn’t run away from my faith as an
adult even if I had wanted to. By
this time in my life, my faith was engrained into the deepest parts of my heart
and mind. Even though I felt like my
entire life was crumbling around me and I wouldn’t be able to make it through another
day, my foundation held. Not because I
am anything special, but because Jesus is stronger and bigger than even the
greatest pain I could face."
His promises are
true. Therefore, fear shrinks. God’s deliverance approaches, even as we wait. We trust He will not delay. Advent is here; our hope is never in vain. The winds and rain may come, but our foundation is
secure on The Rock. The Incarnation
always invades, covering my life and yours with divine Love and Peace… 2000
years ago as a vulnerable baby and today as Emmanuel, God with us.
(Medical and therapy updates coming Thursday…with more
pictures!)
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