Twas the Day After Christmas...

It's the day after Christmas! For us it means mandatory rest...pajamas all day, eating leftovers, and watching movies. Yes! Being lazy and not feeling guilty about it at all!!  I soak in all the memories of get-togethers with family & friends and the whirlwind of activity that took place the last 9 days and try not to think of all the cleanup that needs to get done (tomorrow 😉). I enjoyed my first full week off in a year and though it was a scurry of activity, it was full of family fun and focus on the true meaning of Christmas! I love my family so much!❤

This morning I sat at the kitchen table with my Bible and coffee and began to pray. I prayed over those I love so dearly that faced not-so-merry days this Christmas and yet rejoiced over what I believe God is going to do through those dark valleys. Christmas should be a time of celebration and excitement but sometimes dreams and plans get clouded by the darkness of sin and hit you like a punch in the gut. 

Maybe that is you this morning too....

Maybe you wake up on this day after Christmas discouraged by the sadness you are feeling and wonder how things got like they did. Maybe you're ready to be done with Christmas and move on. 

Let me encourage you within the pages of the greatest love story ever. A love story written for you by a God that adores you and is for YOU! Read them out loud! Don't be timid....shout them out! They are for YOU!

“For the LORD your God is living among you. He is a mighty savior. He will take delight in you with gladness. With his love, he will calm all your fears. He will rejoice over you with joyful songs.”

‭‭Zephaniah‬ ‭3:17‬

“See how very much our Father loves us, for he calls us his children, and that is what we are! But the people who belong to this world don’t recognize that we are God’s children because they don’t know him. Dear friends, we are already God’s children, but he has not yet shown us what we will be like when Christ appears. But we do know that we will be like him, for we will see him as he really is.”

‭‭1 John‬ ‭3:1-2‬

“Why am I discouraged? Why is my heart so sad? I will put my hope in God! I will praise him again— my Savior and my God”

‭‭Psalms‬ ‭42:5‬

“Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.”

‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭3:20‬

These are only a few of the passages immersed within those blessed pages for YOU! Though the way in front of you may be dark, God is light and His light will carry you through. Just hold tightly to HIM! Stay strong in your faith & focus and hold tightly to the HOPE that is JESUS! 

“This is the message we heard from Jesus and now declare to you: God is light, and there is no darkness in him at all.”

‭‭1 John‬ ‭1:5‬

“but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.”

‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭40:31‬

Make this day after Christmas a day of hope renewed! Celebrate who HE is, what HE has done, and what HE will do through YOU!