During the end of our month in Costa Rica, thoughts filled my head with what I would be missing this Christmas season while I was in Thailand. I was sad thinking about missing out on baking Christmas cookies, watching Christmas movies on comfortable couches curled up in blankets, drinking peppermint hot chocolate, and most of all being with all of my family and friends during the holiday season. God has taken away all of those things I used to view as “Christmas things” from my life this year as we are living out of our backpacks and travelling from village to village to share the love of Christ.
To be honest, I’ve struggled a little bit with the thoughts that I wouldn’t have the opportunity to do all of the traditional American Christmas things and be with the people that I love in the States. However, then I realized that is not the meaning of Christmas. Christmas is about celebrating the birth of our beautiful Savior. I am celebrating that He came to this Earth in the form of a servant so that we could live for eternity in heaven. God loved us so much that even though we mess up and deserve hell, he sent His son to Earth so that we can go to heaven if we simply believe in Him and live for the one who has saved us. This Christmas, I am so excited for as He has given us so many amazing opportunities to share about himself.
· He has blessed me with the opportunity to serve Him alongside of five beautiful women to share about His birth (the true meaning of Christmas) and life to children, teachers, and directors in several remote villages in Thailand.
· We have been able to volunteer at two English camps at schools in remote villages. We have been able to perform skits about Jesus’ birth and miracles to about 280 students plus the teachers and directors at the school, teach songs about Jesus loving them to the students, and share the love of Christ by playing games with the children.
· We have been able to drive down dirt roads and brush to a school in the middle of nowhere to share about who Jesus Christ is to those who have never heard of Jesus before. There are only 10 Christians in this area, the rest are Buddhist.
· We have seen the Holy Spirit move in powerful ways in revealing His love to the people here.
My view of Christmas in the past has been very far off from the true meaning of Christmas. Christmas is not about wrapping presents, watching Christmas movies, kissing someone under the mistletoe, drinking hot chocolate, watching someone unwrap a present you bought them, playing games with family, baking cookies, or even being with the people you love. All of these are wonderful things that I love doing. However, I do not want to associate Christmas with these things. I want to associate Christmas with celebrating the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ.
An angel tells Mary, the mother of Jesus, “And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” Luke 1:31.
Christmas is celebrated here in Thailand which blows my mind as they do not believe in Christ. I wonder how often people celebrate Christmas without knowing the meaning behind it?
What does Christmas truly mean to you? What would it mean to you if all of the things you associate with Christmas besides Jesus Christ himself were taken away? Would you be as excited for this season?
I pray you all have a very blessed Christmas and remember the reason for celebrating the season. Thank you so much to all of my supporters as I could not be here without all of you. Thank you for enabling me to go on this journey and for partnering with me to proclaim the gospel to people in remote villages who have never heard of Christ before. Thank you for allowing me to love so many people and to go on a journey that I will never forget. I love you all and am so thankful and honored that you have chosen to support me on this journey.
