Immanuel -- God With Us

Two and a half days before Christmas, and I feel like it is "game on." I don't know about you, but I am having a hard time focusing on ... well, just about anything. Yet, there are still a hundred and two things to do, and unfortunately, life doesn't stop for the holidays. Our trials and suffering do not take a vacation during Christmas. If anything, they feel all the more accentuated and exhausting.

So, what can I do? I was remembering Hebrews 12:2, "Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith," a long side of Matthew 1:21-23, where the angel of the Lord speaks to Joseph in a dream about not being afraid, He says, "She will give birth to a son, and you are to give the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins. All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: 'The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will will call him Immanuel' -- which means, 'God with us.'"

I need to remember that we are celebrating the birth of our Savior ... God with us. And God is with us, now. Right at this very moment, when I am tired, is the time when I need to fix my eyes on Jesus. Not just the Jesus of the manger, but the Jesus who is the author of my faith, the author of my life, and the Jesus of my ever breath.

I remember that He is all that He is said to be to me, personally. My Light of the World. My Savior. My Redeemer. My Comforter. My Prince of Peace. My Rock. My Fortress. I am trying to recall all the ways that He has shown Himself to me in all of these ways, yesterday, last month and over the last year. And in all of who He is, He comes and binds up my broken heart and sets me free, and perhaps, you are aware of His doing the same to you.

What about you, dear friend? Ask Jesus to show you who He is and has been to you over this past year, as you look to celebrate the greatest event of all time. Who is Jesus to you this Christmas?