It was Christmas Day. Renee’s parents were knocking at the door. The house was warm and beautiful—decorated with care, filled with music, and scented with the aroma of food simmering in the kitchen. Christmas was in the air. When the doorbell rang, and her parents stepped inside, everything felt just right.
As I helped them in and took their coats, something washed over me—just as it had the night before at church. That unmistakable surge of Christmas spirit. It wasn’t sentimental nostalgia; it was an overwhelming wave of gratitude, so sudden and so real it nearly stopped me in my tracks.
In that moment I was deeply thankful—thankful to God for my family, both immediate and extended… thankful for a home where love gathered and memories grew… thankful for mercy that had rewritten my entire life story. And then, in a flash, a sobering realization crossed my mind: Lord, if it weren’t for You, I wouldn’t have any of this. Without Your mercy, Your patience, and Your love, I would have destroyed my life years ago with drugs, alcohol, or sheer foolishness. I’d be dead. But instead, here I am—surrounded by Your goodness and all this love.
It lasted only a moment, but it was powerful, vivid, and almost overwhelming.
We walked up into the kitchen, and as I poured Renee’s parents a cup of warm cider, the very first words out of her mother’s mouth were, “Where would we be without Jesus?” Then she quoted Psalm 27:13: “I would have lost heart, unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living.”
I burst out laughing in amazement and told her that those were the exact thoughts that had just flooded my heart as they walked through the door. So we lingered there in the kitchen—sipping cider, tasting Christmas treats, and praising God together for His goodness in our lives.
There’s a verse that captures Christmas for me more than any other. Romans 1:5 in the Living Bible says, “And now, through Christ, all the kindness of God has been poured out upon us undeserving sinners, and now He is sending us out around the world to tell all people everywhere the great things God has done for them, so that they too will believe and obey Him.”
Two thousand years ago, when the night sky exploded with angelic light and the messenger of Heaven declared, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people,” none of us could have imagined how personally that message would reach into our own lives. I certainly didn’t understand it as a boy, watching Linus recite those words during A Charlie Brown Christmas. But I understand now—and my heart is full of thanks.
Merry Christmas from Renee and me!
We pray that the love of Jesus will touch you deeply and personally this Christmas season.
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