Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from Indonesia!! It was a blast celebrating here with friends. Christmas Eve I went to an English service here in Malang and following that spent the night at the Pierce's to wake up and celebrate with them and Danny's sister, Kim, who is visiting from Sudan. Of course, I had some moments here and there throughout the day(and the week leading up to Christmas) wishing I was with family back in America, but being with the Pierces and Marcus' made it special! And to top it all off, I even got to play a good ole game of touch football with a group of expats here!
As much fun as the day was, it was the weeks leading up to Christmas that have been more impacting for me. Each year, I feel like something from a Bible verse or a Christmas hymn stands out to me to reflect on. This year, lyrics from the song "O Holy Night" has stood out more to me than ever before and I am moved every time I sing it.

"Long lay the world in sin and error pining

Til He appeared and the soul felt it's worth.

A thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices,

For yonder breaks, a new and glorious morn."

As we are surrounded by pain, sadness, tragedy, violence, we can't deny that we live in a broken world. We're all sinners and these things are all a result of that. When I think of the tragedies that have happened lately in the U.S., the poverty and brokenness that I see here, and even more magnified in Papua when I visited, there is a sense of heaviness and hopelessness that I feel. God has been speaking so strongly to me lately about "hope." He is the God of hope! The lyrics of the song don't just end with the world laying and grieving in sin, but it continues with the hope we can rejoice in and later with the lyrics:

"Truly He taught us to love one another,

His law is love and His gospel is peace.

Chains shall He break for the slave is our brother,

And in His name all oppression shall cease."

 Jesus came to earth to lift us from our sin, to free us from the bondage of it. In Luke 4, He quotes and fulfills the words of the prophet Isaiah "...He has anointed me to preach the good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." God's heart is to bring restoration to a broken world and it's the promise of this and the coming again of Jesus that we can put our hope in. Despite circumstances and difficulties in life that are temporary, we have been given the gift of salvation that is eternal.
So, lately, as I have become sad and heavy with things that I see and experience, I meditate on God's heart for His creation and the gift that He has given through Jesus. "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit" (Romans 15:13).
Merry Christmas!!