In this season of expectations and hope, I’ve see God show up and move, but I’ve also seen miracles that can only come by going through the fire. Miracles that come from God pulling me out of my comfort zone. Teaching me. Challenging me to be more like Him. Maybe having a perfect Christmas doesn’t mean meeting all of my expectations.
Maybe it doesn’t mean that everything in my life is fixed and okay.
Maybe it simply means that I, once again, am watching in wonder as God shows up in a hard situation, just like he did 2000 years ago in a manger.
Maybe it means that, yes, there are holes in my heart from loss and pain, but God is slowly filling and rebuilding them. Sometimes in small ways I can hardly see. Sometimes, yes, miraculously.
When an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream in Matthew 1, he told him that Mary would conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel which means “God with us and he will save his people from their sins.”
God with us.
In the middle of all our flaws and hurts and imperfections, God still loves us and wants to be with us. It’s the greatest miracle of all. The gift of salvation. The knowledge that in spite of our sins, God still loved us enough that He sent His only son into the world to become the final sacrifice for those sins.
And that is enough.
His presence.
His love.
His promises and comfort.
God IS with us.
May our response this Christmas and every season be to love those around us, to stand firm in our identity in Christ, and to live in obedience to His call on our life.
Because the real miracle—a miracle beyond any expectations we might have—is the birth of a savior who came to broken world, and gave us the gift of salvation.
And that will be enough this Christmas.
