Merry Christmas!

Well the special day is finally here! And I can confirm it has been a great success! Hooray!

Christmases past have been an interesting bunch for me. I had never been very good with special occasions, be it birthdays, Christmas or other days, but I can only credit it to God that lately I have been able to enjoy 'special' days with as much joy and enthusiasm as everyone else. It was all associated with my childhood and history, but it would seem that the healing God has wrought within me has changed that for good. I had actually been anticipating today a great deal.

Yesterday evening things were looking slightly dodgier. In order to meet the financial demands of Christmas and some other large bills due just before, my husband and I have been working morning, noon and night. So we have both been really quite exhausted. Monday night we stayed up until 2 a.m. wrapping Christmas gifts (as we cannot do it with the children around), so we were even more tired. I had been fighting off a sore throat and flu like symptoms which were getting worse, and then my youngest son went down with a really nasty virus and just couldn't keep his temperature down.

Last night we were all due round to the in-laws for our usual Christmas Eve reading of 'Twas the Night Before Christmas', but sadly my son and I had to stay home as we both felt dreadful - temperatures, shivers and my son couldn't even keep medicine down. Then last night very pitifully he said 'Mummy, I am going to be ill for Christmas!' and started to cry : (

So I prayed. And once again, knowing I couldn't do anything about it, I did my best to trust.

Praise God, he slept well and has felt great all day! What a triumph! I actually slept appallingly, in part as the devil was trying to scare me with fears about money, as we are off work and not earning for two weeks, which is unheard of, and have bills to pay early in January. But I have felt quite well, been able to join in, and even walk the dog today! Both our recoveries could of course be excused as just 'one of those things', but I am convinced, due to our rapid improvements and incredible energy, that it must be God. His Christmas gift (amongst so many others) to us.

Speaking of which here is a beautiful Christmas gift I received from my lovely husband today:

My lovely poinsettia with Christmas candles : )

This Christmas we have been able to give the kids what they hoped for, and I was even able to purchase something for my husband that he has longed for, for a long time, that so far had eluded us. It was a complete surprise and I've been bursting about it for weeks, but have had to learn how to keep a straight face!

But it isn't about gifts. The gifts only mean so much because they are markers to me. Markers that perhaps some of the hardest years are over and that, I believe, the best years are ahead. And after having had so many times with nothing, and after running out of food and money right before Christmas just a few short years ago, we can truly see how far the Lord has brought us. It is the same with my health - the improvements are vast. It is the same with family relationships - we have had so much very major stresses over the years that we have not all got along quite so well and quite so readily as we do now. My marriage has not always been so stable and loving and appreciated - again largely because of external pressures. But this year I can truly appreciate it all. We are well (I have a ways to go, but am so very close now), we are together, we have plenty, we have been able to bless each other and others, and the Lord has stepped in and made us well just last night.

It's funny - Christmas is all about Jesus' birth - how God himself came to earth to rescue us from the penalty of the wrong things we've done and take the punishment on our behalf so we can enter into relationship with Him and be loved, be happy and be freed from all that would seek to bind us and damage us. But yet, He is the one who continues to give to us, rather than us give to Him.

This can be seen in the folk story attached to the humble poinsettia plant:

"The plant's association with Christmas began in 16th century Mexico, where legend tells of a girl who was too poor to provide a gift for the celebration of Jesus' birthday. The tale goes that the child was inspired by an angel to gather weeds from the roadside and place them in front of the church altar. Crimson "blossoms" sprouted from the weeds and became beautiful poinsettias." From Poinsettia on Wikipedia.

It is the same today. God still loves nothing more for us to come to Him as we are: humble, dirty, poor, ignorant, lost. He takes our weeds and He grows our lives into beautiful blossoms, for His glory. Why? because he is crazy in love with us, as hard as that is to believe. Why does the Almighty God love messed-up little beings like us? Because He is love, and He made us because He wanted to have friendship and relationship with us. Not to punish, or to judge, but to pick us up, clean us up, and if we let Him, to turn us into something beautiful.

God is sure doing it in my life. Yes, it does seem slower than I'd like at times, but He has a plan and perfect timing, and I am now convinced that my future is very bright.

This Christmas has truly been one to remember, for all the right reasons. I hope and pray yours is too.

Merry Christmas. May you believe His love for you this Christmas season.