Happy almost Christmas everyone! I am so glad you found your way to my site and I pray that it blesses you and reminds you that God loves you and is always with you. Over the next 12 days, I will be focusing on finding God’s grace in our lives during the holidays. 

For the first two days, I will focus on God’s peace. The holiday season can be hard for so many reasons. Perhaps it is the first one where someone is missing. Or maybe financial concerns are weighing you down. No matter what is happening, we can find peace in the craziness.

Because of God's grace to each of us, we can have peace knowing that no matter what might be happening, we do not need to worry. We do not need to be afraid. John 14:27 (NIV) says, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” 

God already has everything figured out. He is already working in the background. While peace can’t take away the grief of missing a loved one over the holidays, it can remind us that no matter how hard we are grieving, His peace will wash over us as He holds onto us. Peace may not make your finances change, but we can have peace knowing that God controls all things and that we have all that we need when He is in our lives. 

As the holiday season continues, I pray that you find His peace. Remember, Christmas is about the celebration that God sent His Son into the World to save us so that we would never be apart from Him. Even when we mourn and even when we are stressed, we can have peace knowing that on that night so long ago, God showed us His grace by sending His Son for every one of us.

May God’s Grace and Peace be with you always!

Becky

For day two I will continue with our focus on finding God’s peace in the Christmas season. When the holidays come, they often bring anxiety with them—trying to figure out gifts, time with family, what cookies to make, how many cookies to make, parties to attend, and so on. If you then add in other things going on in your life like bills, work, and family, it can get so overwhelming that the joy of the holidays is nowhere to be found.

I do not know about you but sometimes the Christmas season gets so stressful and overwhelming I want to skip it all together. The anxiety makes it feel like Christmas is more of a burden than a time when we celebrate the birth of our Savior. When anxiety takes over, we can run and hide and try to skip Christmas, or we can face it head-on knowing the grace of God will give us all we need to keep going.

Philippians 4:6-7 reminds us, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

When the season makes us want to run, all we need to do is stop, talk to our God, and let His peace wash over us. We do not need to “be anxious about anything,” because He has it under control. We just need to look to Him.

So, when Christmas gets to the point that the joy is gone, stop, talk to God, and give it all over to Him. Then revel in His peace and celebrate the birth of His son. Because, that, is the meaning of Christmas.

May God’s Grace and Peace be with you always!

Becky

Welcome back to our 12 days of finding God’s grace in our lives during the Christmas season. For days 3 and 4, I will focus on God’s mercy.

The Christmas season is all about God’s mercy. God sent His Son to save us from our sins because He is merciful. God’s mercy is everything. We do not deserve it nor is there anything we can do to earn it.  His mercy is the best gift we could have ever received.

Jude 1:2 says, “Mercy, peace, and love be yours in abundance.” God’s mercy is where everything starts. In Matthew Henry’s commentary on the Bible, Henry states, “The mercy of God is the spring and fountain of all the good we have or hope for.” It is His mercy that gives us the true peace of God that I spoke about on days 1 and 2. To fully find and embrace God’s peace when our lives feel out of control, we must remember and embrace His gift of mercy.

So, when Christmas starts to feel overwhelming and when anxiety or stress start knocking at our door, remember God gave us all we need when He gave us His mercy in the form of His Son. When we turn our focus to His Son, we turn our focus away from our stress and anxiety.

May God’s Grace and Peace be with you always!

Becky

For day 4 we will continue with our focus on God’s mercy. The Christmas season is the perfect time to remember God’s mercy. Afterall, His mercy came to us in the form of a tiny baby. God’s plan of redemption began, well, in the beginning. In Genesis 3:15 we read, “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” This verse is the first time God speaks about His promise that a Savior would be born to redeem His people.

God knew we would never be able to redeem ourselves when the fall took place. He knew we would need someone to intervene for us. Without God’s mercy, we would be separated from Him for eternity. The gift of His Son makes it possible for us to be redeemed so that we can spend eternity with Him. Through his Son, we have been given new life and therefore hope. 1 Peter 1:3 says, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.”

Because of Jesus, we have hope. So, if this Christmas season you are struggling to feel the hope this season brings, just stop and look to the manger. It is the most precious gift we could have ever received.

May God’s Grace and Peace be with you always!

Becky

For Day 5 and 6, I will move to focusing on God’s forgiveness. God’s gift of forgiveness is the best gift any one of us could receive. As we saw yesterday, when sin entered the world, God began his plan to redeem his people. He promised He would send a Savior from the very beginning.

When sin came into the world so did anger, fear, anxiety, and so on. God never meant for us to live this way. Because we live in a broken world we will experience times where we feel stress, fear, worry, loneliness, and sadness and unfortunately, we often feel these feelings during the holiday season.

This year, I will be experiencing a lot of sadness. This is the first Christmas without my sister. I could easily skip Christmas but then I would miss out. I would miss out on time with family. I would miss out on celebrating with friends AND I would miss out on celebrating the birth of our Savior.

Christmas is so much more than what we make it sometimes. It is about God sending His Son for the forgiveness of our sins. King David wrote, “You, Lord, are forgiving and good, abounding in love to all who call to you.” (Psalm 86:5) This Christmas remember that, no matter what might be going on, it is a celebration of God’s amazing gift of forgiveness. So, even if you feel like skipping Christmas, don’t miss out on the opportunity to celebrate the greatest gift of all.

May God’s Grace and Peace be with you always!

Becky

Today we are continuing our focus on God’s forgiveness. Have you ever felt you didn’t deserve something good that happened to you? It seems like a silly question because who would feel that way, I think most of us have. I know I have felt unworthy a time or two. In all of my years of being a Christian, I have met many people who have felt that because of their past sins and mistakes, they were not worthy of God’s love and grace. That they had done something so wrong, they didn’t deserve to be forgiven.

Here is the thing, though: None of us deserve to be forgiven. That is why God’s gifts of grace, mercy, and forgiveness are so amazing; none of us should receive them. Micha 7:8 shows us we are not the only ones who find God’s gifts unbelievable. “Who is a God like you, who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of his inheritance? You do not stay angry forever but delight to show mercy?” 

God delights in showing us mercy and forgiving our sins. If He didn’t, He would not have sent His own Son as the sacrifice for those sins. That is why no matter what we may be facing this Christmas we still have something to celebrate. So even if you feel like running away or skipping Christmas altogether, remember God’s gift and give Him thanks for His Son.

May God’s Grace and Peace be with you always!

Becky

For days 7 and 8 I will focus on our relationship with God. With Christmas quickly approaching the more overwhelming our stress, anxiety, grief, anger, or whatever it is we are going through may become. Personally, the grief of losing my sister has grown in intensity the closer we get to Christmas. It is getting harder and harder to keep busy enough that I can forget even for a moment that she is no longer here. That she won’t be here when we celebrate the birth of Jesus. It can be very lonely when someone so close to you is no longer here. But here is the thing, we are never alone.

God gave His Son for us because He wants a relationship with us. In Genesis, we see that before the fall of man, the Lord often walked in the garden with Adam and Eve. So, from the very beginning, He has wanted to be with us. He has wanted to be a part of our lives.

Sometimes we can feel separated from God. He can feel so far away especially when we are experiencing hard times in our lives. But friend, He is so very close to us every single day. In John 14:16-17 Jesus tells us, “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.” We have all we need because we have the Holy Spirit within us.

When we are struggling with our weaknesses, that is when God’s strength is its most powerful. Romans 8:26-27 reminds us that “the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans.” So, if this Christmas you are struggling like I am, remember you are not alone. The Holy Spirit is not only within us, He is interceding for us. He is telling God what we need.

Oh, friend, how amazing it is that our God is never far away. He walks with us every day because He wants a relationship with us. So, remember, no matter how lonely you may feel, you are never alone.

May God’s Grace and Peace be with you always!

Becky

For day 8 I will again focus on our relationship with God. I truly find it amazing that the God of the universe wants a relationship with me. He didn’t just create us and send us on our way. He created us because He wanted us and more than anything, He wanted a relationship with us. Jeremiah 29:13 tells us that “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” All we have to do to have a relationship with God is to seek one out.

A relationship with God is essential to us surviving all that this life throws at us. We do not have the power to get through any of it on our own. Though we sure like to try. In our darkest moments is when we need to draw as close to God as possible. James 4:8 reminds us to “Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you.”

God is never to far away that we cannot reach Him. And we are never too far away from God that he won’t reach out for us. No matter what you may be facing this holiday season, draw near to God. Seek Him just like the shepherds and wisemen did so long ago and you will find Him, ready to draw near to you.

May God’s Grace and Peace be with you always!

Becky

For days 9 and 10, I will be focusing on the power of God.

It is truly an understatement to say that our God is powerful. His power cannot even begin to be understood by the human mind. There is nothing our God cannot do. God’s power is something to be celebrated in the Christian life. Why? Because we are utterly powerless compared to our God. There is nothing we can do that even compares to all that He can do.

The sad part is that we often forget how powerful our God is. We often forget about His power when we are struggling. We get so lost in our problems that we forget we serve a God who has the power to do anything we ask of Him. While God will not grant us everything we ask for, that does not mean He doesn’t have the power to do it. (Remember, He always knows what’s best for us, even when we don’t understand.)

When your stress, or grief, or anger gets the best of you this season, I pray for you the prayer Paul prayed for all of us; “I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms,” (Ephesians 1:18-20).

So, when you are knee deep in your problems and all that you are going through overwhelms you, remember we have a powerful God who can do all we ask of Him and so much more. We just have to ask.

May God’s Grace and Peace be with you always!

Becky

Today we are continuing to look at the power of God. As we saw yesterday, God’s power is limitless. There is nothing that our God cannot do. His power created the World and raised His Son from the dead. We also saw that no matter what we may be facing, our God is powerful enough to intercede if we just take the time to ask Him.

God also gives His power to us through the Holy Spirit. 2 Timothy 1:7 tells us, “For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline.” That means that no matter what we are going through, God gives us the power we need to get through it. When we accept Jesus into our lives, the Holy Spirit dwells within us and God’s power flows through us.

I don’t know about you, but I find that very comforting. I have been through a lot over the last 3 years. I lost both my mom and my sister and if I didn’t have God’s power through the Holy Spirit within me, I am not sure I would have been able to survive the immense grief I have been battling for so long. It is truly God’s power that gets me through every single day.

John 16:33 tells us that, “in this world, you will have trouble.” God never promised us that if we followed Him, we would never experience anger, grief, stress, anxiety, and fear. What He does promise is that He will be with us no matter what is happening in our lives. People often say God will not give you more than you can handle. I am not sure I agree with this. I believe that God will not give us more than what He can help us to handle. I cannot handle the grief of losing my mom and my sister on my own. But God can help me to handle that grief by giving me His power through the Holy Spirit.

So this Christmas if you are facing something that seems more than you can handle, remember that you not only have a powerful God who can do anything you ask of Him, but one who gives you His power through the Holy Spirit. There will be a lot of things in this world that we will not be able to handle on our own, thankfully we don’t have to. We have the power of God giving us all we need to make it through.

May God’s Grace and Peace be with you always!

Becky

For our final two days of finding God’s grace at Christmas I will be focusing on God’s love. I saved talking about God’s love to the end because all that we have talked about so far exists because God loves us. God gives us His grace, mercy, forgiveness, and power because He loves us. He wants a relationship with us because He loves us.

God is love. We all know the verse “we love because he first loved us.” (1 John 4:19). Without the love of God, we would not have the privilege of feeling that love or the privilege of loving other people. God’s love is also unconditional. That means there is nothing you or I can do to earn it or lose it. God gives His love freely to everyone, even those who do not believe in His existence.

Knowing and understanding God’s love is so important in times where we have been beaten down by this world. Sometimes when things are going wrong we assume God is punishing us or we assume God does not love us. I know there have been times in my life when I questioned if God loved me. I have said if you love me than why is this happening quite a few times. But here is the thing, bad things happen not because God doesn’t love us, they happen because we live in a fallen world.

When things are going wrong in our lives the more important it is to remember and rely on God’s love. 1 John 4:16 states, “And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.” When we rely on God’s love during our darkest times, it shines a light in that darkness. It reminds us that God is still there, holding us and carrying us through.

So, this Christmas, if you are going through difficult times, look for the light of God’s love and remember He is right there, holding on to you and carrying you through whatever storm it is that you are facing.

Well all, we have made it to day twelve. Thank you so much for spending this time with me. For our last day, I will again be focusing on God’s love. Like I said yesterday, God’s love is why we have His grace, mercy, forgiveness, and power. It is why He wants a relationship with us. It is because God loves us that we can make it through all that life throws at us.

Today is Christmas eve. Today we begin the celebration of the birth of our Savior and the birth of that Savior was because God loves us and does not want to be separated from us. Jesus is the greatest gift we could have ever received. God sent us His Son because of how much He loves us. 1 John 4:10 states, “This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.”

God didn’t need to save us, God wanted to save us because He loves us. That little baby was the embodiment of God’s love. Jesus came, was crucified, was buried, and rose again for our salvation. That salvation is the biggest sign of God’s love for us.

I pray that you feel God’s love for you every day. I pray that you remember that God’s love is unconditional. That His love for you was so immense He sent His own Son to die for you. I pray that God’s love shines bright during your darkest times and reminds you that no matter what is going on, you are loved and God is carrying you in His arms.

I wish you and your family a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. May you find and see God’s grace each and every day.