Embraced by Jesus: our precious hope

Dec 24, 2024

I pray that as Christmas nears, His love and Presence will light up your heart. We have such a beautiful hope because Jesus became an infant and lived among us. His life and death and resurrection changed everything.

Sometimes we hear really difficult news. Whether someone we love is facing a very serious diagnosis, or we are, these words can hit us hard.

In this season, for many of us, grief remains a constant companion, not taking the place of the holiday festivities, but present in the midst of this season of remembering the Light that came into the darkness so long ago. Without advent, we’d have no hope of resurrection. Jesus, this baby born in a manger because all of the inns were full, changed the course of history. He literally brought peace, hope and redemptive Beauty and Light to a world shrouded in despair and darkness.

I remember sitting at the bedside of loved ones on hospice. For those of us who are believers, we don’t grieve as those who have no hope. Moments before my loved one slipped into eternity, we held his hand and prayed. I asked my husband to read the passage about death losing its sting, about Jesus changing everything.

Peace filled the room, a Presence and Hope supernaturally covering our moments and molecules, quieting his ragged breaths, comforting our hearts and minds, and answering the death rattle with a holy invitation.

Come Home.

Remember the story of the Titanic?

The chilling words of Auguilla Webb:

“As the Titanic sank, I heard John Harper plead, ‘believe in the Lord Jesus! I was his last convert.”

John Harper was a pastor who even in the icy waters of the Titanic shipwreck shared the gospel with Auguilla Webb, his last convert.

Do you know the Savior?

Do you have hope beyond this life?

Hope exists because Jesus came.

John 3:16 speaks hope into the wreckage of this life, light emerges from darkness. Hope rises.

Over the course of this year, I have experienced five significant losses, and Christmas is overshadowed by grief.

I know some of you are grieving too. You aren’t alone.

Like the answer before the question arrives, I sense Your hope in the midst of loss, LORD Jesus.

THIS is why You came to earth, born in a humble manger. So death would not have the final word, You arrived in the most humble , vulnerable way.

You came to change the trajectory of history, to bring light to a dark world, expectation to weary broken hearts.

I don’t find this sadness and tears diminish my sense of purpose in any way. Your Light answers the cries of our hearts in the darkness of grief hanging over us like a shroud. Jesus emerged from Mary’s womb to deliver all of us. Hope born with afterbirth in a hay manger.

For everything there is a season. Ecclesiastes says it so well. A time to mourn, a time to embrace. A time for every purpose under heaven.

The older I get the more I realize the words we read in His Word are not only true, they are life and hope.

We live in a world filled with distractions and relentless bids for our minds and hearts to pay attention to another marketing scheme or carefully crafted words.

But when life comes to a close, what will matter then?

Do you have Hope to hold you close? If you were in the icy waters after a shipwreck and heard the words of Pastor Harper, how would you respond?

"Historical time frames in the Bible move so slowly that if we lived through those daily events, we’d notice no real progress except in rare moments of change. Abram is promised a large family. He must imagine spending his life watching the birth and growth of each child, raising them into men and women, and playing with his grandchildren. Instead he spends his whole life waiting, childless, and at the very end, when he is an old man, he gets one son. Israel is promised a new land, but that whole generation slowly drops dead one by one as they drag their tents through the desert over decades of splintered dreams. Only their children see the promise fulfilled. “All these died in faith, without receiving the promises, but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance, and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.” (Heb. 11:13)

For hundreds of years Israelis waited for the Messiah, passing their sometimes-wavering expectation on to their offspring. They waited, grew old waiting, died waiting, as did their children after them. The Old Testament is one long book of waiting. And then he comes… only to leave his people once more with a promise. Christmas, like communion, is a memorial of remembrance until he comes again.

It seems that faith is given to us less as a means to gain a promise and more as the strength to wait for the promise. Daily grace is more about sustenance in the famine than the bounty that will one day come. Our faith is not measured by how much blessing we enjoy, but by how much faithful endurance we keep without receiving the promised blessing. It is drought, not abundance, that drives roots deep into the earth where they tap into the true, undying water source and build an unshakeable foundation. Grace refuses to settle for the short-lived, easy gains that we so often wish for and rather calls us to the hard road of long-term transformation, the kind of change that radically reshapes who we are.

So our patience is not passive and acquiescent, like a doctor’s waiting room, but active and willful. “Prepare the way of the Lord.” Those hills and valleys that need to be straightened are not the landscape of the world, but the topography of our own hearts. He has not come (or we have not gone) because we are not yet ready for him. When a bush pilot flies into the jungle to deliver supplies only to find no landing strip, his coming brings no benefit. So let us be active participants in his grace, yielding our hearts for the Spirit to clear the brush and fill the holes, preparing for our coming King. Waiting is one of the greatest acts of faith, determination, and diligence."

—Janathan Kent Grace

https://janathangrace.org/2016/12/

A few years back, I received this sweet message from my friend in her homeland of China. She wrote:

Thankful for a Savior who transforms our lives wherever we may be.

Joy To The World! People were singing this song in the subway. May you and your husband have a holy jolly Christmas!

_________________________________

第一段

普世欢腾，救主下降！

大地接她君王；

惟愿众心预备地方，

诸天万物歌唱，

诸天，诸天万物歌唱。

Joy to the world, the Lord is come!

Let earth receive her King;

Let every heart prepare him room,

And heaven and nature sing

And heaven, and heaven and nature sing.

第二段

普世欢腾，主治万方！

民众首当歌唱；

沃野洪涛，山石平原，

响应歌声嘹亮，

响应，响应歌声嘹亮。

Joy to the world, The Saviour reigns

Let men their songs employ;

While fields and floods, rocks, hills, and plains

Repeat the sounding joy

Repeat, repeat the sounding joy.

第三段

罪恶忧愁，不容再长！

世途荆棘消亡；

化诅为恩无远弗届，

到处主泽流长，

到处，到处主泽流长。

No more let sins and sorrows grow,

Nor thorns infest the ground;

He comes to make His blessings flow

Far as the curse is found,

Far as, far as, the curse is found.

第四段

主藉真理，恩治万方，

要使万邦证明，

上主公义，无限荣光，

主爱奇妙莫名，

主爱，主爱奇妙莫名。

He rules the world with truth and grace,

And makes the nations prove

The glories of His righteousness,

And wonders of His love,

And wonders, wonders, of His love.

My Japanese friend posted this greeting: Merry Christmas and Happy your New Life!! I think she's exactly right, though perhaps her meaning and mine could be different. I loved teaching ESL for years, and miss those students! But sometimes the best expressions are like that--may you all have a Happy your New Life because of Jesus, the Wonderful Counselor, Almighty God, the Prince of Peace who came into this dark world, bringing Light and Hope and Life made brand new. (2012 journal note)

A beautiful Chinese song: Night of Peace-- Silent Night, Peaceful Night, Little Jesus came to earth. He spreads the news of the heaven. He ignites the hope of earth. True light shines on us. Illuminates our hearts, Telling of His story to all, Silent Night of true peace.

In world longing for true peace, we can rejoice because the Light has come into the World, illuminating our hearts. Thank You for coming to earth for us, Lord! Dec 2011

Tea eggs and tangerines, songs to the newborn king, lifted up in Mandarin to the One who created us all. Sweet time tonight with Chinese brothers and sisters. Dec 2011

I'm reading (pre-viewing) a gift I picked up for someone special--The Jesus Storybook Bible: Every Story Whispers His Name--by Sally Lloyd-Jones and Illustrated by Jago (both from England originally)...it is phenomenal. Every story points towards the Rescuer in some way, and shows the thread of redemption throughout God's Word. Outstanding! 2011

Sometimes our best intentions become bungled plans, like a doorway to nowhere.

Sometimes we don’t know what to do.

It’s easy to be hard on ourselves when plans go haywire.

But what if we simply admit we are human and without better communication and understanding, we sometimes can’t work out a plan adequate for a bunch of people, molecules and moments.

In the wee hours of the morning, my Aussie Mt Doodle begins by squeaking softly, letting me know he’s hungry or needs to go out.

When we feed our dog, he looks expectantly at us, sometimes lobbying for more than his usual rations.

In fact he just finished his breakfast and he returned to my bedside where he’s smacking his lips and savoring his last bites.

My husband recently admitted when he feeds him, he gives JiaYou a little bone shaped Composure vitamin. So sometimes JiaYou waits patiently before eating, his silent request with hopeful eyes.

He wants his Composure back!

A young doodle dog needs his mind and energetic body and brain to settle down, and so do I sometimes.

Father, I think I need a Composure supplement too!

I remember You encouraging my heart through an old song:

“God will make a way when there seems to be no way, He works in ways we cannot see, He will make a way for me…”

Like a bone shaped Composure vitamin, the words of the song cross my lips and after awhile they settle my restless heart down.

Composure, creativity, guidance for my next move on the chessboard of life, I wait.

I look up at my Savior, and I trust You with hope in my eyes.

You are my peace.

I am really blessed as I read this book: Chasing God: One Man's Miraculous Journey in the Heart of the City by Roger Huang

Jesus is a dividing line. The eternal destiny of every human being is determined by their response to Jesus.

-Nancy Leigh DeMoss (quote retrieved in Dec 2013)

2010 Finished my last minute Christmas errands and picked up natural "cures" (I hope) for my aching body. Debbie and Trevor arrive TODAY... and I am headed for a nap to store up some energy. I let Teddy have an early Christmas present...a run on an abandoned golf course that was recently flooded--he loved rolling on top of small dead fish!

Moments and molecules…

Stumned by a crashing sound and the impact of bring struck by another vehicle today, I shook my head in disbelief. This came out of nowhere, and there was no conceivable explanation in my mind for how or why someone hit me. I looked for a place to pull over, praying the other driver wouldn’t flee the area.

Life holds unexpected blows.

How do you respond?

The songs on the radio tell us this is the “most wonderful time of the year.”

But how are you really doing?

How are your heart and mind and emotions?

How are you feeling physically?

How are you holding up?

How are your stress levels?

Do your expectations or the expectations of others create challenges or disappointments when reality doesn’t live up to those hopes or expectations?

Today what I expected to be a simple short drive to church ended up very differently than I hoped. Someone changed lanes but neglected to notice my lane was already occupied.

Moments and molecules…sometimes human beings crash into one another or dent our carriage.

A living physics lab, entropy and inertia do what they do.

I am grateful this wasn’t worse (though it will require repairs), but with an already full plate, I felt so frustrated this happened. Never fun.

Thankfully the young man stopped and took responsibility. He made a significant mistake but he did the right thing and I thanked him for being honest and handling this with integrity. I pray repairs and insurance issues go smoothly.

Repairs and hassles take already maxxed out time and energy, but no matter what we face, if we are His children, our times are in His capable, loving hands.

Maybe your moments and molecules look different. Some of you have broken relationships you long to see healed. Some of you feel financial stress. Others have loved ones fighting to survive. Some of you are grappling with unthinkable tragedies or losses.

This life can leave us feeling gutted.

No matter what you’re facing, take heart. You’re not alone.

You are safe and you are loved.

With every single tough thing, I try not to focus on why it happened (though it’s okay to ask), but on WHO I will turn to in the midst of the hardship.

I try to glance at the problems and gaze at Jesus.

I don’t always succeed. We are human. We blow it sometimes, or lose our cool.

But I rest in this reality…He is mindful we are but dust (Psalm 103). He understands my weaknesses and treats them tenderly. He remains steadfast and He’s always glad to be with me. He can handle whatever I am facing. Same goes for you.

If you know Christ, you can stop trying to carry that heavy load emotionally.

Lay it all down.

Ask Immanuel to help you through these tough things.

Don’t feel like you can cope with more mishaps and molecules?

Let Him supply the strength, wisdom and help you need.

The good news is He is our strength , and He supplies the grace and power to endure and stay connected to Him.

My hope in Christ transcends the trials of this life.

One day, in eternity, no more pain. No more suffering.

Moments and molecules won’t collide.

Safe in His embrace, loved for all eternity.

Recently, I contacted the artist who created the beautiful image I had shared in a note, and I bought the personal use license that allows me to share these two images with you here.

Kevin Carden’s work is often seen on various platforms, and he is glad when his images are shared because they point people to Jesus. He asks that people share his name with his work, and when sharing an image he created (from his website) he requests that we share the picture with a watermark (unless you purchase the license like I did for these two hope-filled images).

I loved these two pictures so much I ordered small prints for my office.

So as you look at these two portraits of the Savior embracing you in eternity, what do you feel?

How do you respond?

My heart delights in this scene, because one day the trials of this life will be over.

The dents and scrapes will be set right.

The rough pathways and roads will be made smooth.

Evil will be answered and holiness will reign.

Darkness will be only an echo.

No longer will we need the sun and the moon to guide us, because the everlasting Light of the Savior and Redeemer will illuminate our way.

The Waymaker emerged from a womb, Hope delivered to a world weary with despair.

Now watch. Wait. Embrace Life.