In our quiet little house, on our quiet little street, I let my husband hold me on our quiet little couch while I wept for what might never be. Our African babies were a million miles away and we had no idea when we would get to them because of paperwork delays. I tried for years to conceive. I sat on my couch with no babies and all my hope for babies spent. I wept for what I prayed and strived and hoped for but what I feared I would never have.
Enter the miracle-working, gift-giving, heart-changing God.
Four days later on December 29, I booked my ticket to Africa. Our paperwork had been released!
Five days later on December 30, I found out I was pregnant.
How life can change in the
This Christmas I looked around at my beautiful babies and I just rejoiced in the great Giver of all good things. What a gift my children are! Between the noise and the wrapping paper I allowed my heart to be settled on Him. The things he has done with the pieces I gave him. I gave Him my hopelessness. My tears. My sadness. And what did He give me? The best gift ever. Truly a miracle of all miracles. Not one baby to dote on, not two, but three! All in one year. He gave me the gift of hope restored.
When Christmas day was done, the noise was over and the wrapping paper recycled, I just counted my blessings. I looked in on them in their beds and thought, "You. You. And You. are the best gifts ever." And I laughed at myself for not enjoying the last quiet Christmas I would have for a long time.
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| Christmas 2013 |
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| Christmas 2014 |
I know that this Christmas many of my friends spent in sorrow. I have a former coworker in his early forties who just lost his wife a few days before Christmas to an unbearably short battle with cancer. I have another friend who's father passed away on December 23. And another sweet friend had her first Christmas morning without her children because of a divorce earlier in the year. There are so many who spent their holiday the way I spent that Christmas in 2012. Weeping for a lost love or grieving for what may never be in their lives. I can't offer anything to them except a story of Hope. Not my story of hope, but THE STORY OF HOPE! Everlasting, life changing HOPE. I can't console those who can't conceive. I can't hold those who weep for lost loves. I can only say that He is good. And He's good because His gift to us is everlasting life. I got the gift of answered prayers and I am forever grateful for that, but I know and understand that His gift goes much, much deeper and it's much, much better than the sweet gift I got. Unwrap His promise. It is LIFE.
Merry Christmas to all my friends- near and far. Those who are hurting and those who are rejoicing. Merry Christmas.
1 comment:
How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!
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