{"id":231,"date":"2014-12-16T23:08:45","date_gmt":"2014-12-17T04:08:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.christiancompositions.com\/blog\/?p=231"},"modified":"2016-12-05T22:07:03","modified_gmt":"2016-12-06T03:07:03","slug":"when-you-cant-find-the-merry-in-christmas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.christiancompositions.com\/blog\/when-you-cant-find-the-merry-in-christmas\/","title":{"rendered":"When You Can’t Find the Merry in Christmas"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"cantfindmerryfb\"<\/a>
\nFor many years, Christmas was a very difficult holiday for me: \u00a0not because I didn\u2019t understand the true meaning of Christmas, or because I wasn\u2019t thankful for the beauty and wonder of the coming of Christ, not because I didn\u2019t love my family, or enjoy the celebrations that surrounded the season, but because I felt there was a giant empty place in my life. \u00a0No matter how hard I tried, it was hard to see the twinkle in the lights beyond the dark sadness in my heart.<\/p>\n

My husband and I struggled with infertility for 11 long years.\u00a0 Not every moment was sad, and I am thankful that God gave us those years, and for the comfort and strength He gave me in the midst of them, and yet they were still very difficult.\u00a0 It was a very real, and sometimes very raw, grief.\u00a0 The joy and excitement of the Christmas season seemed, by contrast, to make our melancholy more pronouned.\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t a grief that was always evident to others.\u00a0 We hadn\u2019t \u201clost\u201d anyone or anything, but our empty home bore a silent witness to the fact that something precious we longed for was missing.<\/p>\n

I do not share this to gain your pity.\u00a0 God has been so good to me.\u00a0 My husband and I now have two beautiful children, and even if we did not have them, God has always been good to us.\u00a0 The silence and sadness of my barren years caused me to look to the Lord in a way I would not have done if my heart and hands had been filled immediately with what I wanted.<\/p>\n

There are some of you who may be reading this who know exactly the feeling I am speaking of, although your \u201closs\u201d may be of a different kind than mine.\u00a0 It may be the physical loss of a loved one, the loss of a relationship, the loss of health, or an unfulfilled\u00a0dream.\u00a0 It could be a transitional season in your life, where you feel that others have moved on, and you\u2019ve been left behind. \u00a0It could be that you are simply overwhelmed by trials or heartache. \u00a0It could be a number of other things.\u00a0 Whatever the reason, if you are struggling to realize the joy and celebration of Christmas, do not despair.\u00a0 Even in our lonely, sad, empty, uncertain times, there is hope.\u00a0 God has not failed us.\u00a0 God has not forgotten us.<\/p>\n

Do you know Jesus Christ as your Savior?\u00a0 If not, I encourage you to trust Him today.\u00a0 He came to bring forgiveness, peace, joy, and life.\u00a0 The birth of Christ was just the beginning.\u00a0 His death on the cross, His resurrection from the dead, are the answer to our deepest needs. \u00a0Recognizing and admitting your need of salvation from sin, repenting of your sin, and trusting Christ as the only means of that salvation, will transform not only your life, but your eternity.<\/p>\n

If you know Christ as Savior, but you feel like (or someone tells you) that you aren\u2019t understanding the true meaning of Christmas because you are struggling with fear, pain, or loss, please pause now and remember the first Christmas.\u00a0 It was not a joyous gathering of friends and family around a bountiful feast, nor a special service in a church, nor beautiful, heartwarming songs.<\/p>\n

The first Christmas was a time of weariness, financial strain, personal shame and misunderstanding, upset plans, confusing changes, rejection, discomfort, and hard travail.\u00a0 Yes, there was singing by the angels, but only the shepherds in the field heard it.\u00a0 There was worship, but in a dark stable by the few who truly believed.\u00a0 There was joy, but it was mingled with pain.\u00a0 There was revelation of the work of God, but it was met with fear before it was received by faith.\u00a0 There was miraculous\u00a0fulfillment of God\u2019s ultimate plan, but the reproach of Jesus Christ came the moment He was conceived, and was borne by those who chose to identify with Him.\u00a0 There was praise and prophesying in the Temple, but only by two elderly saints who had long been looking for His appearing.\u00a0 There was a bright star, but only a few wise men from a distant country understood its significance. There was rejoicing by a few over the birth of a baby, but there was weeping because a wicked king saw Him as a political threat and went on a murdering rampage of innocent children. \u00a0The great God who is our Refuge came to earth,\u00a0and Joseph and Mary had to flee with Him at night as refugees\u00a0to escape Herod.<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Christmas is a wonderful thing because of all that the coming of Christ accomplished.\u00a0 If you feel that you cannot celebrate Christmas because you are burdened, or broken, or sad, or confused, or fearful, that is not true.\u00a0 Those who celebrated the first Christmas did so in spite of those things\u00a0because by faith they looked past themselves and their circumstances to the One whose coming transformed their lives.\u00a0 Fix your heart, your mind, your eyes in faith on the Lord Jesus Christ. \u00a0He is the joy, the peace, the glory, the wonder of Christmas.<\/p>\n

Merry Christmas!<\/p>\n

Niki<\/p>\n

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For many years, Christmas was a very difficult holiday for me: \u00a0not because I didn\u2019t understand the true meaning of Christmas, or because I wasn\u2019t thankful for the beauty and wonder of the coming of Christ, not because I didn\u2019t … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[46,42,1],"tags":[94,39,93,88,92],"class_list":["post-231","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-devotional-thoughts","category-inspiration","category-uncategorized","tag-christmas","tag-hope","tag-infertility","tag-jesus-christ","tag-sadness"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4L3GS-3J","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.christiancompositions.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.christiancompositions.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.christiancompositions.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christiancompositions.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christiancompositions.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=231"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.christiancompositions.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":486,"href":"https:\/\/www.christiancompositions.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231\/revisions\/486"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.christiancompositions.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=231"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christiancompositions.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=231"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christiancompositions.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=231"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}