The people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light, and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death, on them a light has dawned.” Matthew 4:16
Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” John 8:12
In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. John 1:4,5
… a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel.” Luke 2:32
This year I have been enjoying the season through the eyes of my younger children. Their awe and excitement has warmed the heart of a tired, overwhelmed mom. We have moved a few weeks ago into a house we are so blessed to live in, but it came with some challenges of its own. And normal life demands don’t slow down just because you add in a big extra event.
But through it all, I have been overwhelmed mostly with gratitude I can’t really express in words. I have never sensed the hand of God so near as He has been the past few weeks… in spite of myself! Yes, I get irritable when I’m tired and feel as if I’m losing my grip. But losing grip does something interesting. It causes you to fall back into the arms of the One who has it all under control. Time after time, things I worried about fell into place in ways I couldn’t have planned if I tried. With each hurdle or frustration came a blessing of equal or greater value. I am finding thankfulness a way of life that I never have before.
But all these words..they don’t tell the story. Not really.
Just like this picture doesn’t come close to capturing the awe of seeing the light in the darkness for yourself.
I have a feeling no matter what kind of camera I tried to use, this light cannot be experienced second hand. You can admire it, but you can’t truly know what it’s like unless you see it for yourself.
The light of Jesus is the same. Darkness is powerless over it, yet it can’t be captured and held in your hand. We think we can tell someone about it and have them see it, but truly, only He can reveal Himself to another person. Our words may be used to invite a person to turn and see… but they must see Him, and not ourselves.
Gratitude for the true rest and freedom that is in Christ is not something I can explain to you, even though this entire blog endeavors to do so. My prayer for those who visit is that they will see JESUS.. and His light in the darkness.
8thDay4Life 
Sondra this is beautiful and so true, no matter how hard we try, everyone must see the Light for themselves. It is such a holy and life-changing moment when we do. Beautiful!
I’d like to admit I have really loved seeing Christmas through your younger childrens eyes too.
Merry Christmas!
I am ex HRM. But I knew the pagan nature of xmas before this as I had some experience with the occult. This year I have had alot of pressure from people, family other believers not to be so hard on xmas. I have been involved in a church that has done it and have held my peace, even though they had a tree in the church. I did xmas with my mother. I really tried, but I have been left feeling, dirty and compromised.
I find it hard to wish anyone a merry christ-mass as a mass is the celebration of the death of christ. So we have everyone going round saying ‘happy christs death’.
Since leaving the HRM I have found others who have left it have been unable to retain the truths that they have learned. We learn many truths. It seems that in order to wish to fit in with groups (and I am guilty of this) we will abandon one set of truths for another. I am determined to hold only onto truth. Not religious traditions of the apostate church or the HRM.
Borah, I can definitely relate to your difficulty and frustration. I also respect your conviction and believe that this is an area where we need to allow for people to follow their conscience without judging one another. I still know people who don’t celebrate, and some of them have never been in the HRM. Our own abstaining began long before we joined the movement too, for many of the same reasons you mention.
Our transition was not a result of trying to “fit in”.. (That has never been a concern for us, believe me! We seem to always be going against the grain in some area.) It came as we started to really re-examine our whole perspective on everything. We came to the conclusion that regardless of origins, and what things are called from times past, the focus of this holiday can be brought to rest on the Incarnation. And this is an amazing thing to meditate on, and an incredible outreach opportunity. We decided that instead of trying to fight what we can’t change, to use it for the best good. Anything that can be a bridge to bring people to Jesus is worth celebrating. I also once was an evil pagan, but now I am a New Creation. Just because I had some bad beginnings, doesn’t mean God has rejected me for His Kingdom. If God can do this with a wretch such as me, I trust He can also use a holiday for His glory as well. 🙂 But this is my conviction, and I respect yours too.
I wrote about this part of our journey in this post a couple years ago. http://wp.me/p9ylS-9p
Thanks for the reply, I respect yours too.