Hard Times in the Holidays
I've thought about this post for the last couple weeks. The last month "hit us like a wrecking ball." My father in law has been in the hospital for 20+ days with complications from a cancer surgery and my mom was diagnosed with colon cancer. To top it all off, I ended up with walking pneumonia. In my weak moments I wonder why? And why now? All these emergencies are really piling up during the holidays.
I have heard that the holiday season can be very difficult for a lot of people, but until now I've not shared that sentiment. But as we navigate through some hard times during this Christmas season, I am beginning to become VERY grateful that all this is happening around Christmas time. I'll tell you why.
Every where I look I see Jesus. In my family and because of my faith in Jesus. We celebrate Christmas as Jesus' birthday. As I look around, my sad heart sees beauty in the sacrifice God made by sending his son to this Earth. Just. For. Me. and in fact, just for you too. This year I've been the obnoxious one and have had Christmas music from sun up to sun down. (Jesse and Angie thankfully have not complained) To me Christmas is a constant reminder that I'm not alone in this season. That Jesus is here with me, helping me to navigate the ups and downs of this hard time.
When I went in to get checked out about my on going sickness (the walking pneumonia), I learned that my doctor too was going through a hard time. His wife was diagnosed with breast cancer and was under going treatment. These are good people, who welcome orphans into their home and have many foster kids. I wonder, "why God?"
My doctor mentioned the story of Ruth. Ruth's mother in law Naomi had it all, and then lost it all. Her husband and two sons died. There was a famine. When she went home people didn't even recognize her. I am using some imagination but I can assume that famine and hard living had probably caused her to loose weight, maybe her hair fell out, she left full but came back empty. She changed her name to Mara because "life was very bitter for her."
Have you ever felt like that? Once you felt full. And now empty, gripped by the bitterness of life.
The story ends well, you can read it in the book of Ruth. What we don't see in the end of Ruth is what ends up happening through Ruth and Naomi. Years and years down the line Jesus is born out of the lineage of Ruth (Naomi's daughter in law) and Boaz (relatives of Naomi's late husband). God used the famine and death to bring Naomi and Ruth home to meet Boaz and begin a new life.
Maybe just around this hard time, is a new beginning. We don't have the eternal perspective that God has, but maybe your hard time is going to impact for good at a later time.
I want to encourage you friends that you are not alone in this hard season.
"So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal." 2 Corinthians 4: 16-18
~M
I have heard that the holiday season can be very difficult for a lot of people, but until now I've not shared that sentiment. But as we navigate through some hard times during this Christmas season, I am beginning to become VERY grateful that all this is happening around Christmas time. I'll tell you why.
Every where I look I see Jesus. In my family and because of my faith in Jesus. We celebrate Christmas as Jesus' birthday. As I look around, my sad heart sees beauty in the sacrifice God made by sending his son to this Earth. Just. For. Me. and in fact, just for you too. This year I've been the obnoxious one and have had Christmas music from sun up to sun down. (Jesse and Angie thankfully have not complained) To me Christmas is a constant reminder that I'm not alone in this season. That Jesus is here with me, helping me to navigate the ups and downs of this hard time.
When I went in to get checked out about my on going sickness (the walking pneumonia), I learned that my doctor too was going through a hard time. His wife was diagnosed with breast cancer and was under going treatment. These are good people, who welcome orphans into their home and have many foster kids. I wonder, "why God?"
My doctor mentioned the story of Ruth. Ruth's mother in law Naomi had it all, and then lost it all. Her husband and two sons died. There was a famine. When she went home people didn't even recognize her. I am using some imagination but I can assume that famine and hard living had probably caused her to loose weight, maybe her hair fell out, she left full but came back empty. She changed her name to Mara because "life was very bitter for her."
Have you ever felt like that? Once you felt full. And now empty, gripped by the bitterness of life.
The story ends well, you can read it in the book of Ruth. What we don't see in the end of Ruth is what ends up happening through Ruth and Naomi. Years and years down the line Jesus is born out of the lineage of Ruth (Naomi's daughter in law) and Boaz (relatives of Naomi's late husband). God used the famine and death to bring Naomi and Ruth home to meet Boaz and begin a new life.
Maybe just around this hard time, is a new beginning. We don't have the eternal perspective that God has, but maybe your hard time is going to impact for good at a later time.
I want to encourage you friends that you are not alone in this hard season.
"So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal." 2 Corinthians 4: 16-18
~M
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