I have HUGE plans each year for Christmas. I also have a full time job, a full time home, husband and writing ministry as well as speaking opportunities. I am a grandmother too. I have great ideas, beautiful plans and wistful thinking. This tends to get me flustered to say the least.
So a few days ago as I looked at the not quite decorated pump organ in our living room, I decided to surrender. Surrender all my Christmas ideals and walk into the peaceful season. I have a lot things decorated but if something doesn’t get done I will be okay. Because the most important things in life will get done and we will have peace, love and joy during it all.
Oh beloved. What kind of ideals do you have? Are you swarming with good intentions? Are you slathering on the perfume of the have to’s? Are you just wishing you had more time, more money or more whatever?
God wants to speak to your heart this very day. Tis the season He says. Tis your season He reiterates. It’s time to surrender Christmas to Me. And while you’re at it why don’t you give Me your whole life, future, plans and wishes?
God says you are perfect in yourself – through Christ. It’s time to stop beating yourself up over things you have no control of. Maybe it’s not the decorations or the preparations. Maybe it’s the feeling that something is missing or that you’re not good enough. Maybe you think if you just had more faith things would be better off, life would be more serene. Peter walked on the water in complete abandonment to himself because He was walking to Jesus. But then the waves got his attention and his faith waned – he began to sink! And He cried out to Jesus, “Lord save me!” Jesus didn’t say to him “well since your faith is low I will just have to let you drown.” NO. Jesus, the Scriptures tell us, IMMEDIATELY reached out his hand and caught him! Then, when Peter was rescued, they talked about faith. You have a life as big as the heart of Jesus and He won’t let you go when things get tough and you begin to wonder. Just don’t live there. Don’t live the life of regrets that your decorations aren’t perfectly placed or that your life is not perfectly full of faith all the time. When you begin to sink – into despair, disappointment, dejection, depression, and more – Jesus will lift you up always! And He will show you the way to greater faith, greater enjoyment of this life, greater hope in the next life and give you wonderful blessings all along the way. You aren’t the sum of anything except who you are in Christ!
God loves you and He’s for you. Jesus proves this over and over. Don’t waste another moment thinking you can’t get help from the Lord. Run to Him this morning and surrender your life to Him again. Allow yourself to live in peace and walk in faith that all things work together for your good and His glory. And live in the Light of this wonderful blessing of Truth!
Isaiah 64: 8 But now, O LORD, You are our Father, We are the clay, and You our potter; And all of us are the work of Your hand.
Psalm 50: 15 And call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me.
Psalm 9: 10 And those who know Your name put their trust in You, for You, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek You.
John 14: 27 I am leaving you with a gift–peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid.