It wasn't a song I sang often or even particularly enjoyed, but I found myself singing it....after all, it was the song that the little Christmas tree I bought that night was playing.
"God rest ye merry, gentlemen, let nothing you dismay,Remember Christ our Savior was born on Christmas Day;To save us all from Satan’s power when we were gone astray..."
I sang and when I got to the chorus, my heart flooded with emotion...
"O tidings of comfort and joy, comfort and joy,
O tidings of comfort and joy."
Comfort and joy was, indeed, what God had given me that year. Comfort and joy after a long, difficult time....comfort and joy straight from God's heart to mine.
I love that song now. It's a reminder to me that God heals...that He knows what each of us is going through every second of every day...and that He cares enough to comfort us and bring us joy again after sorrow. I also realized I had never really listened carefully to the song until that time....I found that it so beautifully tells about the birth of Jesus and of His power in our lives.
Today "joy" is one of the sweetest words I know. God returned to me the joy I had earlier only after I had walked a very difficult path....the way He did it was quite remarkable...using people and circumstances I never could have imagined....weaving even those I didn't know into my life to touch me in a way only God could have planned.
And I want you to know that He is able to comfort you, too, and bring joy to you again. Whatever sorrow you're going through....whatever you've faced in the past little while...God is able to bring comfort and joy to your heart again. There is nothing too hard for Him. Nothing too far from His touch.
And He loves you so very much.
It may all come suddenly or God may choose to heal you a little bit at a time as He did me.
But no matter what, know this...
God sees you....He knows who you are....He loves you deeply and completely....and He will never leave you.
Never.
Just ask Him to be in your life and He will.
May God fill your heart with comfort and joy this Christmas season....and may you know His presence always in your life.
"As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love. These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full." John 15:9-11
