Lord, In Your Mercy

Posted on by Betsy

Good intentions. Everyone has them. Most people follow them. Some stray far. I always think of New Year’s resolutions as good intentions. We intend to do better at our jobs, lose weight, change habits, be more present with family, etc. but for the most part, our resolutions barely make it to February.

One good intention I hope you have is to stay in God’s Word this year. Call it a New Year’s resolution or just a desire, being centered in God’s will by staying centered in God’s Word is good for the soul. This is why I write these devotionals … to help all of us approach and access Scripture in easy to digest bites. I will begin 2025 with the same commitment, and I thank each one of you for following along! May we make a commitment together to read every one. If you read these on Facebook or Blue Sky, don’t forget that you can also sign up on my website to receive them in your email inbox every morning.

Psalm 40 reminds us of the importance of reading, learning, studying, and incorporating Scripture into our lives. The psalmist proclaims, “I want to do your will! Your Instruction is deep within me.” This could be our resolution as well.

Psalm 40 (Common English Bible)

I put all my hope in the Lord.
    He leaned down to me;
    he listened to my cry for help.
2 He lifted me out of the pit of death,
    out of the mud and filth,
    and set my feet on solid rock.
        He steadied my legs.

Lord, in your mercy, steady our legs!

3 He put a new song in my mouth,
    a song of praise for our God.
Many people will learn of this and be amazed;
    they will trust the Lord.
4 Those who put their trust in the Lord,
    who pay no attention to the proud
    or to those who follow lies,
    are truly happy!

Lord, in your mercy, save us from the proud!

5 You, Lord my God!
    You’ve done so many things—
    your wonderful deeds and your plans for us—
        no one can compare with you!
    If I were to proclaim and talk about all of them,
        they would be too numerous to count!
6 You don’t relish sacrifices or offerings;
    you don’t require entirely burned offerings or compensation offerings—
    but you have given me ears!

I love how the psalmist says, “you have given me ears.” How many times during the day do we neglect to use them? Are you busy looking at your phone so much that you don’t hear your family talking to you?

Lord, in your mercy, help us to listen better.

7 So I said, “Here I come!
    I’m inscribed in the written scroll.
8     I want to do your will, my God.
    Your Instruction is deep within me.”
9 I’ve told the good news of your righteousness
    in the great assembly.
    I didn’t hold anything back—
        as you well know, Lord!
10 I didn’t keep your righteousness only to myself.
    I declared your faithfulness and your salvation.
I didn’t hide your loyal love and trustworthiness
    from the great assembly.

As we look toward this new year before us, may we commit to not missing a chance to be in God’s Word, whether it is by reading these devotionals, joining a Bible study, attending weekly worship, attending Sunday school, etc.

Lord in your mercy, draw us into your Scriptures every day.

11 So now you, Lord—
    don’t hold back any of your compassion from me.
Let your loyal love and faithfulness always protect me.

God offers us loyal love and faithfulness. How will you return those things to him this year?

Paved With Good Intentions

Not Just Any Old Joe

Posted on by Betsy

As we have finally rounded the corner past Christmas and are heading into the new year, we have a moment to focus on Joseph. We remember him for many things. We remember his humility in receiving an unwed pregnant girl into his keeping when he could have easily dismissed Mary. We remember his sacrifice of reputation and freedom. We see his struggle to provide shelter for his newborn son and new wife. We admire his quiet and steadfast faith.

And we are amazed at his ability to think fast on his feet in the middle of the night when his sleep was interrupted. God appeared to him in a dream with the command, “Get up.”

Matthew 2 (Common English Bible)

13 When the magi had departed, an angel from the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Get up. Take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod will soon search for the child in order to kill him.” 14 Joseph got up and, during the night, took the child and his mother to Egypt. 15 He stayed there until Herod died. This fulfilled what the Lord had spoken through the prophet: I have called my son out of Egypt.

I always wonder what happened to this little family during the Egypt years. As immigrants, they surely had a hard time finding shelter and work to sustain them. They lived under the threat of a tyrant who was hell-bent on killing their child. This awful man had no problem killing all the children in Bethlehem in hopes of eliminating Jesus. The fear and disorientation for these young parents must have been overwhelming.

Murder of the Bethlehem children

16 When Herod knew the magi had fooled him, he grew very angry. He sent soldiers to kill all the children in Bethlehem and in all the surrounding territory who were two years old and younger, according to the time that he had learned from the magi. 17 This fulfilled the word spoken through Jeremiah the prophet:

18 A voice was heard in Ramah,
    weeping and much grieving.
        Rachel weeping for her children,
            and she did not want to be comforted,
                because they were no more.

And finally, when King Herod died, Joseph is awakened in the middle of another night and told to “Get up” again:

19 After King Herod died, an angel from the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt. 20 “Get up,” the angel said, “and take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel. Those who were trying to kill the child are dead.” 21 Joseph got up, took the child and his mother, and went to the land of Israel. 

Joseph was a sharp and quick thinker. He followed God’s instructions and allowed the Holy Spirit to guide him along the way. A third night of sleep was disrupted, and the angel sent them to Galilee to keep Jesus and Mary safe.

22 But when he heard that Archelaus ruled over Judea in place of his father Herod, Joseph was afraid to go there. Having been warned in a dream, he went to the area of Galilee. 23 He settled in a city called Nazareth so that what was spoken through the prophets might be fulfilled: He will be called a Nazarene.

This makes me wonder what God is telling me to “Get up” and do. Am I sleepwalking through my faith? Am I mush-headed and missing cues around me that the Holy Spirit is trying to guide me toward?

Are you?

Let us agree to be like Joseph and get up and go when called and sent by the Lord. I pray for clarity of direction for all of us.

Get up!

It’s Here!

Posted on by Betsy

And so the day we have long anticipated is here! Christ is born, and born again in our hearts. Take a moment in your busy day to dwell on that.

What does Jesus mean to you?

What is joy?

What message will you carry from this day into tomorrow?

Isaiah 9 (New International Version)

The people walking in darkness
    have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of deep darkness
    a light has dawned.
3 You have enlarged the nation
    and increased their joy;
they rejoice before you
    as people rejoice at the harvest,
as warriors rejoice
    when dividing the plunder.

6 For to us a child is born,
    to us a son is given,
    and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
    Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
    Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

7 Of the greatness of his government and peace
    there will be no end.
He will reign on David’s throne
    and over his kingdom,
establishing and upholding it
    with justice and righteousness
    from that time on and forever.
The zeal of the Lord Almighty
    will accomplish this.

May peace reign in your home and heart today, and may angel-songs fill the air.

Merry Christmas!

O Final Light

Posted on by Betsy

Advent begins in darkness. This is a deliberate thing, meant to bring us back to a time when the prophets declared that the “people were walking in darkness.” That scripture is a word-figure for the reality of the absence of the Light of the World from our lives. Before Jesus arrived, God’s people had descended from the Garden of Eden into deep and hopeless darkness, until it was so ink-black you could not see your soul in front of your face.

We recognize the descent into darkness and Advent’s ascent into light in the things around us. The Advent wreath has four unlit candles on the first day of Advent. Each Sunday we light one, then two, then three, then four, and FINALLY we arrive at Christmas Eve, when the white Christ candle standing at the center is lit. What a joyful moment that is to behold…all the flames dancing at once in the air of anticipation met and expectation unfolded.

Ponder this Christ Candle lighting liturgy from the United Methodist Church:

O Finality.
O final Light.
O luminous One,
outshining lamp, stars and sun.

O End of Night.
O Day’s Light without ending.
O Light, all light,
outshining lamp, stars and sun.

Break forth, O heavenly Light, and reign to the ages of ages.
Shine forever and let no more greed or hatred near.
Illumine and save all creation,
outshining lamp, stars and sun.

O Light, we shall see face to face.
O Radiancy, we shall ever bear upon our foreheads.
O Splendor of Love, the world of greed and hatred ending,
outshining lamp, stars and sun.

That is a rich and beautiful series of images, emotions, and ideas. You may want to read it again. But the repetition of “outshining lamp, stars and sun” truly stands out. Jesus is the true light that illumines everything; a light that no one can extinguish.

Maybe Christmas Eve tomorrow will be dark for you. Grief, loneliness, illness, separation, missing your family, financial hardship…many things can dull the light. But all these things are worldly. Jesus is the Light of the World, and he longs to shine warmth, joy, and peace into your dark places.

Today is a day to do nothing else but embrace the Light. His light brings healing. His light brings solace. His light shines the way to eternal light, where literally none of those things matter. As much as it matters here and as deeply as you are feeling it, NONE of it will matter in eternity.

John 1 (NIV)

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 

4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

No darkness can overcome Jesus. He outshines the lamp. He outshines the stars. He outshines the SUN.

Bask in that light today. If you are headed to a Christmas Eve service tomorrow, listen for the light, look at the light, and be the light. If you aren’t, ponder these words again just like Mary pondered the angel’s proclamation of Jesus’ birth…in your heart.

Jesus is the Light of the World! A light no one can extinguish.

Light of the World by Kathy Schumacher

Merry Stressmas!

Posted on by Betsy

It’s the most wonderful time of the year!

for shopping and baking, and for Xanax taking when loved ones come near!

 It’s the most wonderful time… for a beer.

We have reached that point in the “most wonderful time of the year” when stress is at its peak. Are you feeling it? Just this week I heard two parents say that their children cried on the way to school several days this week, other moms told me they are completely overwhelmed and exhausted, and a colleague reached out for prayer because she feels like she is drowning in obligations and commitments. Why, oh, why, do we do this to ourselves every year?

Friends, this is no way to celebrate the birthday of the Prince of Peace. Are you at peace in your heart, or is your life filled with worry and fretting? Here are six steps toward peace, reminding us that we won’t have peace on earth and goodwill toward all people until we have peace within.

  1. Rejoice in the Lord. 

Phil. 4:4 says to rejoice in the Lord always… not just rejoice occasionally. Not just rejoice when something great happens but rejoice in the Lord always. Making the choice to rejoice in every circumstance brings peace to your soul. Can you pause right now and rejoice that at least you are alive to survive another day?

  • React graciously to others. 

Be gentle and forbearing… with everyone. Scripture teaches us that “A gentle word turns away wrath.” Paul says to let your words be seasoned with salt and designed to build up, not to cut down, designed to develop, not destroy, and designed to help, not to hurt. Let your graciousness be evident to all. If your stress and exhaustion are making you be short with your kids or your spouse, figure out a way to take something on your list and just say no.

  1. Rest in the Lord.

Jesus said: “I will never leave you nor forsake you!” Remembering that Jesus is with you and that you abide in Him will help you rest in Him and experience his peace when you have none. As the Prince of Peace, he longs to meet you in a quiet moment, even in the carpool line or as you put your head on the pillow. Just ask him, and he will come.

  1. Reach up to God in prayer.

Let prayer be your first response, not your last resort. Paul says: “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus” (Phil. 6:7)

  • Reflect on positive things. 

The battle for peace is primarily fought in the mind. We must take every thought captive to Christ. Take two minutes to meditate on God’s Word. In Phil. 4, Paul wrote: “Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable–if anything is excellent or praiseworthy–think about such things.” 

  • Repent & resolve to obey the Lord 

The Holy Spirit will not let us be at peace in sin, so we must confess, repent, and resolve to obey the Lord. The key is not the absence of troubles and trials or hurts and heartaches; but rather the key is the presence of God.  When we confess and repent of our sins, we find an inner peace.

Pursuing peace will help us reduce our stress and be peacemakers. Where can you be a peacemaker in your workplace or your family? What better way to celebrate this last week of Advent could there be than to bring peace into your day? May the Prince of Peace make his presence known in your life today.

Peace Like a River by Michelle Robertson

Beloved

Posted on by Betsy

Yesterday I met with a woman who had asked to speak to a minister because her husband is dying in a hospital several hours away. We talked at great length about life and death, faith and fear, and along the way she mentioned that while she is a believer, she was never baptized. We talked for a moment about the meaning of baptism and she asked me to baptize her in a few months when she gets settled into a new home. I am thrilled to be able to do this for her. She is 82 years old, reminding us that it is never too late to make commitments to the Lord.

Driving home, I remembered and marveled at the fact that Jesus himself was baptized. Do you remember this story? It tells us many important things about the sacrament of baptism and reveals something about Jesus’ identity … and ours.

Luke 3 (New Revised Standard Version)

21 Now when all the people were baptized and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heaven was opened,22 and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”

First, we are immediately struck by Christ’s humility. To submit to being baptized by a mere human is an expression of deep humility, and he did it for our sake. God is the agent of our baptism, God is at the center of this sacrament, God brings the cleansing of our sin and  the blessing and the new life that starts in baptism, and here is God, in the form of Jesus, being baptized by a man. He who was sinless submitted to being baptized by a man. I think Jesus’ humility was an act of courageous obedience to the will of God. He was baptized because of his obedience to his Father, and in doing so, sets the example for us. What God desires from us is humble obedience also. Jesus shows us how to submit to the Father’s authority in his baptism.

I am reminded of a story I heard about St. Francis of Assisi. St. Francis lived a life of humility and wanted to be as much like Christ as possible. In the Legend of Perugia, there is a very revealing little notation. It seemed that as St. Francis was traveling and preaching to the churches there, it was noted that “he brought along a broom to clean the churches.” I love that! He brought a broom to clean. What a beautiful example of servant leadership.

Another amazing thing about this story is that it also reveals Jesus’ divinity, and it one of the few portrayals of the Trinity in scripture. Remember that the concept of the Trinity—God in three persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit-wasn’t developed by the church until a few hundred years after Jesus’ resurrection. And frankly, the Trinity is a very difficult thing to explain. How can something be one and three all at once? If I had the perfect explanation for the Trinity, I am sure I wouldn’t be here this morning, but rather I would be the Dean at Yale Divinity School or a famous Christian author. But the best analogy I can offer is that the Trinity is like water in the way that it can be flowing water, ice, and steam, but it is all water, just in different forms and functions. On the other hand, maybe we can just simply accept the Trinity the way children do…simply. Kids usually get things right. 

But for me today, the best part of this passage is that it reminds me that we are God’s beloved. In baptism, we are asked what our given name is: In other words, our first and middle names. Have you ever wondered why we don’t say our last names? Because we all share the same last name in that moment: Beloved. You are God’s beloved!

You are a beloved child of God. Go out today and act like it.

Christmas Lights by Kathy Schumacher

In the Waiting Room

Posted on by Betsy

The saying goes that “good things come to those who wait”. I remember a time in the Navy when that saying was replaced with “hurry up and wait.” Going to the Exchange? Hurry up to get there. Then wait. Seeing a doc at the base clinic? Hurry up and be on time for your appointment. Then wait. The deployment is almost over, and the squadron will be home soon. Hurry up, husband! Then wait.

There are many times in everyone’s life when hurry up and wait comes in to play: College applications are due by a certain date. HURRY UP and fill them out! Then wait to see if you got in. Cancer tests are scheduled for this day; hurry up! Then wait for weeks for the results. Babies come when they want to. Pre-labor beings! Hurry up! Then wait.

Waiting is hard.

Waiting is worrisome.

Waiting slap wears you OUT.

The people of Israel were promised a messiah. The messiah would come to rule his kingdom on earth. He would take away their sins and would save them. Under his reign, justice would flow like the waters, and there would be peace on earth. But they were beginning to get tired of waiting:

Isaiah 40 (NIV)

28 Have you not known? Have you not heard?

The Lord is the everlasting God,

    the Creator of the ends of the earth.

He does not faint or grow weary;

    his understanding is unsearchable.

29 He gives power to the faint,

    and strengthens the powerless.

30 Even youths will faint and be weary,

    and the young will fall exhausted;

31 but those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength,

    they shall mount up with wings like eagles,

they shall run and not be weary,

    they shall walk and not faint.

And so Israel hurried up. And waited. Centuries passed from the time of Isaiah to the advent of Jesus Christ. By then they had waited so long they didn’t recognize him as the messiah. But some did. Perhaps they were the ones who waited with open anticipation. As you wait, are you open to receiving God’s answer in a completely different way than you are expecting? Jesus was not what was expected, but good things came to those who waited for him.

Those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength. Why? Because God does not faint or grow weary. God gives power to the faint. He strengthens the powerless. But you … you will mount up with wings like eagles if you choose to wait for the Lord.

The challenge is to spend your time in the “waiting room” wisely. What else can you be doing while you wait? Can you be immersed in the word? Shoring up failing relationships? Actively spreading hope to others who are also waiting? Witnessing to God’s presence in the waiting room? Waiting rooms can be places that bear just as much fruit as delivery rooms if we keep our eyes open while we wait.

While we wait upon the Lord to deliver, we gain strength in knowing that God never grows weary. And so we take this time in our waiting room to grow in our love of God, of family, of faith, and in confidence that in every hurry-up and every slow-down moment, God is with us.

And I just can’t wait to see what he does.

Peaceful, Easy Morning by Michelle Robertson

Harmonious

Posted on by Betsy

Music is such an integral part of Christmas for me. I learned how to sing in church, standing with my father who sang bass, my alto mother, and my sister who had perfect pitch and made up her own beautiful alto/tenor harmonies. I feel bad for every pastor I have served with who suddenly gets treated to my “inventive” harmonies which don’t quite follow the hymnal, but are harmonious in their own way. With the first Advent hymn I sing, Christmas blossoms in my heart.

Music can do that to you.

We were designed for worship and praise. As God knit us together in the womb, he had a plan for his people to be able to come and adore him in harmonies that have only been heard by the angels. I suppose that is why Christmas carols and Christmas songs are so important to this season. They set the stage for the advent of Christ in our hearts and draw us to that angel choir that hovered above his manger at his birth, singing their glorious “alleluias.” God invites us to sing along.

In the fifteenth chapter of Romans, Paul reflected on why Jesus came and how we should respond to him. Not surprisingly, he says that we should strive for a maturity of personal harmony with one another that will make us into a choir … “not our voices only, but our very lives singing in harmony in a stunning anthem.” What a beautiful image!

Romans 15 (The Message)

3-6 That’s exactly what Jesus did. He didn’t make it easy for himself by avoiding people’s troubles, but waded right in and helped out. “I took on the troubles of the troubled,” is the way Scripture puts it. Even if it was written in Scripture long ago, you can be sure it’s written for us. God wants the combination of his steady, constant calling and warm, personal counsel in Scripture to come to characterize us, keeping us alert for whatever he will do next.

May our dependably steady and warmly personal God develop maturity in you so that you get along with each other as well as Jesus gets along with us all. Then we’ll be a choir—not our voices only, but our very lives singing in harmony in a stunning anthem to the God and Father of our Master Jesus!

If we are to be a choir of worshippers who live in harmony, we have a few things to do. First, we must stay true to God’s purposes for his creation, which is to live in peace together. That may mean laying down old grudges, prejudices, and bigotry. Next, we need to invite outsiders in and welcome the insiders to return. As the “choir,” we can be integral in reaching out to welcome one another in love and acceptance for all.

7-13 So reach out and welcome one another to God’s glory. Jesus did it; now you do it! Jesus, staying true to God’s purposes, reached out in a special way to the Jewish insiders so that the old ancestral promises would come true for them. As a result, the non-Jewish outsiders have been able to experience mercy and to show appreciation to God. Just think of all the Scriptures that will come true in what we do! For instance:

Then I’ll join outsiders in a hymn-sing;
I’ll sing to your name!

And this one:

Outsiders and insiders, rejoice together!

And again:

People of all nations, celebrate God!
All colors and races, give hearty praise!

Ask yourself if you are adding to the harmony of God’s worship or detracting from it. Have you welcomed the stranger into your heart and your home? Are you able to include every aspect of God’s diverse and beautiful world in your worship? Can you invite your neighbor to church this season?

And Isaiah’s word:

There’s the root of our ancestor Jesse,
    breaking through the earth and growing tree tall,
Tall enough for everyone everywhere to see and take hope!

Oh! May the God of green hope fill you up with joy, fill you up with peace, so that your believing lives, filled with the life-giving energy of the Holy Spirit, will brim over with hope!

I pray that each one of us will do all that we can to share the joy, the peace, and the live-giving energy of the Holy Spirit to an outsider who desperately needs it. Look around … they are in our midst. May we bring the brimming-over of hope to the world this season.

Green Hope by Michelle Robertson

It’s All About You

Posted on by Betsy

What does worship mean to you? What do you experience in that moment? Is it the beautiful stained glass windows, the prayers, the music, the message … where in worship do you connect with God? Sadly, a lot of folks walk through church doors without any expectation of meeting God there. Church can become a duty, a ”check in the box,” or worse, a see-and-be-seen social event, indicating that our hearts for true worship have grown cold.

Matt Redman’s song “I’m Coming Back to the Heart of Worship” serves as our text today. It dates back to the late 1990s, born from a period of apathy within Matt’s home church, Soul Survivor, in Watford, England. Despite the country’s overall contribution to the current worship revival, Redman’s congregation was struggling to find meaning in its musical outpouring at the time.

“There was a dynamic missing, so the pastor did a pretty brave thing,” he recalls. “He decided to get rid of the sound system and band for a season, and we gathered together with just our voices. His point was that we’d lost our way in worship, and the way to get back to the heart would be to strip everything away.”

Reminding his church family to be worshippers in worship, not just consumers, the pastor, Mike Pilavachi, asked, “When you come through the doors on a Sunday, what are you bringing as your offering to God?” Read more here.

King of endless worth
No one could express
How much you deserve
Though I’m weak and poor
All I have is yours
Every single breath
I’ll bring you more than a song
For a song in itself
Is not what you have required
You search much deeper within
Through the way things appear
You’re looking into my heart

And I’m coming back to the heart of worship
And it’s all about you
It’s all about you, Jesus
I’m sorry, Lord, for the thing I’ve made it
When it’s all about you
It’s all about you, Jesus.

At the heart of Christian worship we experience awe, praise, reverence, yielding, and adoration. Worship ignites the human spirit as the spark of God touches our souls. In Exodus 25:22, God gave Moses instructions for building a movable tabernacle and then says, “And I will meet with you there and talk to you … ”

We should strive to commit to a return to pure and true worship this Advent, where we communicate heart-to-heart with our Holy God. 

Commu­nity worship experiences bring the corporate body into concentrat­ing on God. The same principle holds true in individual worship, as our center of attention is focused on the living God. Did you make it to church last Sunday? Check in the box! But what is your plan for the rest of the week? 

Worship is an attitude of putting God on his throne every day as you acknowledge his reign in your heart. And may we offer God our finest first fruits, the best of our resources, and the full tithe of our harvests. Then we will truly be worshipping God as he deserves.

Courtesy of Kitty Hawk United Methodist Church Facebook page

The Light of Life

Posted on by Betsy

The Gospel of John makes great use of dark and light imagery. John beautifully weaves metaphors of night and darkness with sin and death. Light becomes a symbol of Christ and hope. Even at the end of Judas’ betrayal story, John writes that Judas got up from the warmth of the supper in the upper room and went ”into the night.”

As we quickly approach Christmas, our neighborhoods, our trees, our banisters, and even our tacky sweaters are encased in light. We do this as a celebration of the Christ-child, who was born to be the ”Light of the World.” On Christmas Eve, we will finally light the Christ Candle in the center of our Advent Wreaths and proclaim that Christ is a Light that can never be extinguished. Amen!

John 8:12 says this: ”Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying, “I am the Light of the world; whoever follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.”

The Light of Life. Think about it! Following Jesus means that we have access to a light that will illuminate our path no matter what tragedy, temptation, or trial encumbers us. Like a flashlight, all we need to do is turn it on and point it toward the darkness.

Isaiah also wrote beautiful words about darkness and light. In the ninth chapter, we discover this passage, which tells us exactly why the Light of the World came:

Isaiah 9 (New Revised Standard Version)

The people who walked in darkness
    have seen a great light;
those who lived in a land of deep darkness—
    on them light has shined.
3 You have multiplied the nation,
    you have increased its joy;
they rejoice before you
    as with joy at the harvest,
    as people exult when dividing plunder.
4 For the yoke of their burden,
    and the bar across their shoulders,
    the rod of their oppressor,
    you have broken as on the day of Midian.
5 For all the boots of the tramping warriors
    and all the garments rolled in blood
    shall be burned as fuel for the fire.

And now for the Christmas part:
6 For a child has been born for us,
    a son given to us;
authority rests upon his shoulders;
    and he is named
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
    Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
7 His authority shall grow continually,
    and there shall be endless peace
for the throne of David and his kingdom.
    He will establish and uphold it
with justice and with righteousness
    from this time onward and forevermore.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.

Jesus came to light up your situation. He came with so much power and might, there is no force of darkness you can encounter that could dull his wattage. He is the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, and the Prince of Peace, who brings endless peace to the world.

Do you lack peace right now? Turn on the Light.

The Light Brings Life by Michelle Robertson