These four crazy weeks in between Thanksgiving and Christmas can sometimes be filled with stressful preparations, overwhelming demands or perhaps even a deep emptiness for a loved one that is missing this year.
What are some words that describe how you are feeling right now about this holiday season?
The time between the holidays is also known as Advent which is a Latin word meaning “to arrive or to come”. Webster defines advent as “the arrival of a notable person or event”.
Over 2000 years ago, the world waited for the First Advent and the arrival of the promised Messiah….It had been 400 years since the Israelites had last heard from God…..He was silent for four centuries!
Wow…..400 yrs…That is a very long time to wait and we all know how difficult waiting can be. Been to the mall or the grocery store lately?
Having to wait for something tests your patience…..
frustration and anger can start building and threaten to explode.
To be honest, our current society is totally out of practice.
We have INSTANT EVERYTHING!
Where's my package?
Check the tracking...
I'm hungry!
Run through the drive-thru....
I'm bored!
Queue up something to watch on TV right now...
Our "modern technologies and conveniences" have
created a generation who DO NOT KNOW how
to be still and wait well.
Being patient in the checkout line at Target is rough but waiting through really hard times to come to an end is one of the most difficult journeys to be on…
Doubt and despair come knocking and try to steal your hope.
If you don't know how to wait well....this can totally take you out.
Physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually.
“ When neither sun nor stars appeared for many days
and the storm continued raging, we finally
gave up all hope of being saved.” Acts 27:20
That brings me to my second question for you to think about….
What is the hardest thing you have had to wait for or perhaps what are you currently struggling to hold on to hope for?
I want to share with you a difficult waiting story that forever changed how I approach the season of Advent. I am going to be open and honest about mental illness because it affects many people in my immediate family.
There are several depression, anxiety and anger management issues
that have affected our lives for several generations.
The holidays of 2014 was a dark season and a number of us were struggling. My husband had been unemployed since January and was unable to find a job that could support our family. Watching his self-esteem and hope diminish each month was devastating.
My oldest daughter was in 5th grade at the time and had attempted to start middle school back in September. Both her sensory processing and anxiety disorder made it very difficult in this new learning environment so we decided to homeschool her. We were six weeks into this new chapter of our lives and I’ll be honest….it was not going well. I had argued with God back in September that I did not think this was a good idea and from my vantage point, she was not getting better at home and we were certainly not learning anything!
My oldest daughter was in 5th grade at the time and had attempted to start middle school back in September. Both her sensory processing and anxiety disorder made it very difficult in this new learning environment so we decided to homeschool her. We were six weeks into this new chapter of our lives and I’ll be honest….it was not going well. I had argued with God back in September that I did not think this was a good idea and from my vantage point, she was not getting better at home and we were certainly not learning anything!
BUT…
God is never in a hurry and He knew that great things were
coming but I needed to be patient and learn how to wait & trust Him.
So, here we were….the Thanksgiving of 2014..... My husband and daughter were struggling and then my inlaws called saying they were feeling too overwhelmed and sad to have us come up this year. Darkness seemed to be affecting everyone! It was just too much…..
A deep emptiness in my heart started to consume me and I began aching for something, anything to cling to. All the pieces were broken around me and the storm kept raging on day after day….
For the first time in my life, the thought of creating my annual Christmas letter absolutely broke my heart. We had just finished a TERRIBLE year from my perspective….what “highlights” could I possible write about? We had no extra money for the holidays and the thought of buying a bunch of useless presents felt so meaningless.
But, in that darkness and sorrow…..God started showing up day after day
and the true meaning of Advent suddenly became very real to me.
One early December morning, I randomly stumbled upon some Advent youTube videos and noticed they all mentioned that it was more than just waiting for Christmas time to get here…..
Yes, focusing on Christmas is an important part BUT there was more! What? Really? Usually after Thanksgiving wraps up….I am digging out the tree & ornaments, brainstorming gift ideas for the family as well as trying to figure out if there were any decent pictures of us all to use on the annual Christmas card.
But not that year…..that year, all I wanted to do was hide. My hope was lost….things were so dark and I didn’t know when it would get better again.
But the Christmas songs playing on the radio each day would take my breath away…..”Come to Bethlehem and see….Christ the Lord, the newborn King”….”Away in a Manger, no crib for a bed. The little Lord Jesus lay down his sweet head”….The thought of God’s only Son…..my precious Jesus as a tiny, fragile infant…..can you imagine? A baby with God’s eyes? Gazing into divine majesty and holding His precious little finger?
The manger started to speak to me like it had never had before... and the profound little details of the very First Christmas awoke a new wonder and awe within me. I then noticed in the story what happened after the baby was born…. all the rejoicing! The skies FILLED with angels singing that Jesus had finally come! Just like God promised! My heart started feeling lighter and a bit of joy came in…..Jesus was born into a dark world and dwelt among us!
As the prophet Isaiah spoke centuries before
“Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son and will call him Immanuel.”
Immanuel means “God with us”. During the First Advent, God came
down to earth in the flesh to teach, to heal and to love.
So the first piece of Advent is to REMEMBER that Jesus came at Christmas because He loves you. Jesus became the one and only way to reconnect you with His Father and rescue you from wrath.
Then, another level of Immanuel burst through my heart as I realized that
not only did Jesus come at the first Christmas but
He was WITH ME RIGHT NOW! Jesus said...
“I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— the Spirit of truth….. he lives with you and will be in you.”
Jesus repeated this promise in his last words before going back up to heaven
“I will be with you ALWAYS….till the very end of the age”.
Claiming this truth - that God was with me even in that dark season - brought a burst of new HOPE that I cannot even try to explain with words.
It changed how I looked at everything. I stumbled upon a website during the second week of December that showed detailed photos of what snowflakes actually look like close up. Wow! Have you seen them?
They are unbelievable! Those white blobs falling outside which made traffic horrible suddenly transformed into hand-crafted gifts from God filled with intricate and breathtaking beauty. I was excited each morning for the new day and began looking for treasures that God had placed all around me. Cardinals would appear out of nowhere; my morning devotional would mention snowflakes or the manger. The radio would play a song I hadn’t heard in a very long time but was exactly what I needed to hear.
The second piece of Advent is to ENJOY the present.
Right here…..right now because that is where God is.
He wants to fill you in the present moment with His presence…..
Oh but God wasn’t done yet…..because there
was a third piece of Advent that I had yet to discover.
Immanuel….”God with us”…..
He came to earth over 2000 years ago (Christmas Past).
He lives in us now thru the Holy Spirit (Christmas Present).
But there is a glorious hope and a future because……all throughout the New
Testament, God promises another wonderful thing…
Jesus is coming back!
The angels at the ascension told the apostles...
“Why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”
Jesus himself said the same thing ...
“Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms….I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go….I will come back and take you to be with me.”
Suddenly, the church liturgy I grew up with came flooding into my thoughts.
”He will come again to judge the living & the dead
and His kingdom shall have no end”
”Come Lord Jesus be our guest…”
”the Lord God, who is and was and is to come”.
We are currently awaiting the Second Advent.
For Jesus to come back again! That is our Christmas Future!
In the book of Titus, it teaches
The third piece of Advent is to ANTICIPATE.
Be ready and waiting for Jesus!
So I ask you a third question……
How well are you waiting this Christmas season?
Are you looking forward for Jesus to return?
Do you have HOPE? Do you need more of Immanuel?
When we cry out to God….He hears us and comes near.
I don’t know you all personally but if you or someone you know is struggling with mental illness….you are not alone in this!
Please know that this will not last forever and there is HOPE because God’s light and love can come & transform any darkness that you are experiencing.
He has transformed my family and He can come into yours as well.
Merry Christmas and Happy Advent!
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