Christ was born FOR YOU

Hello! I wanted to share a few Christmas thoughts now that I am done with finals and have a moment to breathe again.

There is a song that has been playing over and over and over in my mind since November 20th. I have heard it many times in my life but had never really listened. You know how we do, we hear something but we don't really hear. Well such was me with this song until I was at an orchestra rehearsal late one night in November and the choir had to repeat the last line of the song a few times.... "Christ the babe is born for you." My ears perked up. I had never known that the song "Infant Holy, Infant Lowly" had those words in it. Immediately I wanted to listen to it over and over .... And I did. I have listened to it over and over again in the car and at home. I love it. The second verse is my favorite: "Flocks were sleeping, shepherds keeping vigil til the morning new. Saw the glory, heard the story, tidings of our gospel true. Thus rejoicing, free from sorrow, praises voicing greet the morrow, 'Christ the babe is born for you!'

The line "free from sorrow" in this verse was the high point for me of the concert I got to play in a few weeks ago. As the choir sang that line, I felt the power of those words. Jesus Christ gives us freedom from sorrow. He gives us freedom from sorrow and from all other chains and burdens.

So, at this Christmas time, I want to share with you my testimony that Jesus Christ lives and that "Christ the babe was born for you." He was born for YOU and for your individual sins, pains, struggles, sorrows, burdens...You name it and He felt it for you. He felt YOUR sin. YOUR pain. YOUR sorrow. And He atoned for it. "At-oned"...meaning He made it all right. He set it all equal again. He set you at one with Him again. As far as He descended, He can raise you up. I love Him and I praise Him. I invite you to come closer to Him at this beautiful time of year. He loves you so much.

Merry Christmas to you!!

Loved

Every now and then, you have those days when your mind and your body and just about every other faculty you can imagine tells you that you're not doing that great with life right now. So you get up and start your day, thinking "Man, I hope I can make it through this day…and man, I hope these feelings pass reeeeaaalll fast."

But as the feelings continue and you get to your morning scripture study and the first verse you read is  Isaiah 14:3 - "The Lord shall give thee rest from thy sorrow, and from thy fear," you know that He knows exactly what you're going through and that He wants peace and happiness for you. He lets you know that you won't feel this way forever. This is a hard day for some reason, but He will help you through this day just as He has helped you through every other hard day of your life. He lets you know there is a place and time when you will be free of those sad and fearful feelings that creep up every now and then and that He'll help you get there. And He does that just because He loves you. Because He loves you so much that He wants you to know that you're not alone and that He gets it…He gets how you're feeling. He knows and He wanted to let you know that He knows.  

You go through the day and try to do good things but you just can't get out of the slump. And then you go to your cousin's house for family night and see him and his wife and their two little boys. Their little boys crawl all over you and talk to you and want to be by you the whole night and you're reminded what it is that you're trying to get to…what you really want in life. It's this. It's this sweet little family life. Husband. Wife. Father. Mother. Children. For a few minutes you feel whole inside. You know what is real and what is not. You get to see that this little life makes you feel better and not more stressed, which is an answer to prayers, as you have been worried that it will make this problem of feeling this way worse. You see that this is where you feel most comfortable, most happy, most whole, most at home, most YOU: Giving love to and laughing with children, all in a little home that is just trying to teach little people what is true and trying to love each other and be the best people you can be. Yes, God gives you this gift of showing you that you're a mother at heart to help you know that all is well and that you will be ok. Because He loves you. He loves you so much He just wants to let you know that He gets you. He gets that you get scared sometimes and that it's hard sometimes and that you hurt sometimes…. but He also gets that there is a future of things even better than you can comprehend and He's preparing them for you. 

At the end of the day, you just know that He loves you so much. Even though it's so hard sometimes, you're grateful for the dark which helps the light be more visible because He loves you. He loves you, He loves you, He loves you!!! 

Choices

I watched this video this morning and I love it. I love this story and have had the opportunity to previously hear it and read it several times. As I heard it again today while watching this video, I thought about the relief and peace that comes into our lives when we make the right decisions - in short, the peace we have when we are clean. It is such a blessed thing to be clean before the Lord. I hope that you will feel the same as you watch this. If you feel any feelings of discomfort, that is the spirit telling you that you can be better. Perhaps there is something in your life that ought not to be. There is repentance. There is always a way to be clean again. Jesus Christ is the way.