Sunday, December 1, 2013

Week 3 - Countdown to Christmas

In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to the Galilean village of Nazareth to a virgin engaged to be married to a man descended from David. His name was Joseph, and the virgin’s name, Mary.

… the angel assured her, “Mary, you have nothing to fear. God has a surprise for you: You will become pregnant and give birth to a son and call his name Jesus.” 
Luke 1:26-27, 29-31 The Message Bible

Notice the choice of words, “the angel assured her . . . You will become pregnant.” How assuring would that news be!

How often do we get news that we are less than thrilled with – that little clunking noise in the car will require major repairs, our employer is cutting back and we are going to lose our job, or the biopsy came back cancer. No matter how we try, we cannot see any good coming out of this news.

But God can make good out of anything. That clunk in the car would eventually cause the car to become dangerous to drive and could force the car into oncoming traffic if not repaired now. Maybe money will be tight, but if we aren’t working, we can spend time with our families. Every day, God is providing the medical field with new treatments for cancer. Even if our outcome is not a good one, the doctors may help someone else by what they learned from our illness.

No matter what news you receive today, let God show you the good in it. Thank Him even if the news is bad. In His own time and in His own way, He will see to it that everything will turn out according to His gracious will.


(Every Sunday from now until Christmas, I will be sharing an excerpt from “The Christmas Story in 40 Days”. A friend of mine gave me a rubber duckie Nativity set to add to my rubber duckie collection. I went a little crazy taking pictures of these ducks, but hopefully, if you find my words boring, at least the pictures from now until Christmas will keep you coming back for more. And if you don’t find my words boring, don’t forget to order your copy of “The Christmas Story in 40 Days” before the forty days is up.)

1 comment:

Denise said...

Thanks for the words of wisdom, Chris. I will be reading this post more than once.