If you’re tired this Christmas!

I don’t remember what I was thinking. I just know I was in a deep fog of shock and sadness.

When our fourth child was born eighteen Decembers ago, life went out of focus for a while. 

Due to complications, she was flown to a city hospital the day of her birth, while I stayed behind with empty arms and a heavy heart. 

The next afternoon, after having packed a few things together, we drove the 2-hour trip to be with our newborn daughter. 

I don’t remember the trip too well. I don’t remember what I was thinking. I just know I was in a deep fog of shock and sadness because we had not expected the diagnoses we had been given hours earlier. 

The trip that afternoon became symbolic in itself, though. We drove into a snowstorm, and at some points, it was hard to see the road for the snow! With some difficulty, we continued making our way, and slowly the weather cleared, and we could see again see more clearly.

Over the years, I have thought about that trip and how life can often feel exactly like that. Some days it seems like we’re in such a storm that we surely won’t make it. And then things clear so we can find our way forward again. 

We all have storms from time to time. It’s an inevitable fact of being alive. The question is how we get through them. 

God’s power to sustain and uphold is real. If you know of someone in the midst of a storm, pray for them. I know the power of prayer gave us the strength to keep going when the path ahead seemed so unclear and full of fear. 

Maybe you are in the middle of your own storm. Christmas time can make these storms even more challenging to navigate as emotions are heightened with expectations of joy at every turn. Maybe your joy is hard to muster this year. Jesus invites us to come to Him, lay our loads down, and rest. 

Exhale and rest, for He is gentle with His children. He is as gentle as a baby but as mighty as a King. My job is not to carry my burdens alone but to hand them over into God’s capable hands and trust His tender heart for me. 

He is as gentle as a baby but as mighty as a King.

Come to me, all of you who are tired and have heavy loads, and I will give you rest. Accept my teachings and learn from me, because I am gentle and humble in spirit, and you will find rest for your lives. The burden that I ask you to accept is easy; the load I give you to carry is light.

Matthew 11:28-30 NCV