This Christmas

Christmas reminds me of God’s grace and his awesome willingness to include me in his family. Christmas is our marker of the moment Jesus came to earth to show us how to walk as beloved children of God. He came to show us how grace works in our lives and how to be dispensers of that same grace to others.

That’s why our hearts open wider at Christmas than at any other time of year and we want to be sure everyone has the basics they need and some of the things they want, to help them feel loved and appreciated.

This Christmas is hard to grasp hold of. This Christmas seems to be the culmination of an unimaginable year of pain all around us. An endless list of prayers that, as yet, seem unanswered. This Christmas is not even as enticing with promises of sales and great gifts and tempting food with family members and friends. This Christmas is more difficult because our family always gathers to celebrate with food and laughter and gifts and love. And not just at Christmas, but usually at least once a month. But this Christmas we can’t physically come together and Zoom just cannot substitute for a touch.

And yet we’re still mindful of the grace of God and how we’ve been overwhelmed with it for another year. This grace of God is the same thing I write about through different titles. This favor God shows us, and through it enables us to excel and to soar beyond anything our minds can understand. This grace that fascinates us as we watch God open doors, prepare paths and supernaturally situate us in places created by the gifts he’s given us.

My latest book, that was published on my 70th birthday, is Created to Walk on Water. I had the title more than a year before I began to write and I had no idea where I was going when I started. What I realized is that in some of the most incredible moments of our lives, moments that make us think we are losing…we are actually winning in a way that ultimately astounds us. We are actually walking on water without realizing it. We laugh at the disciple Peter because he lost his footing when he took his eyes off Jesus. Jesus didn’t chastise him for stepping out. We do. And with that mindset, we probably keep ourselves from stepping out.

I think we need to celebrate the moment when it was working and the fact that he had the courage to step out. As you read some of my stories, you’ll find moments of your own and be inspired to write them for others to read.