Once upon a time there was a girl who went on a long trip. She knew before she left that she was going to have to miss seeing her family and friends, and she wasn’t going to be with them on the holidays She also knew that God wanted her to take this trip and that He would take care of everything. She really didn’t think much about it for the first few months she was gone, as she was having a lot of fun seeing new places and ministering to the people that God put in her path. Around Thanksgiving, though, she really started to think about how she wished she could just see her family and friends again, but she was able to talk to them on the phone and everything seemed okay. About a week and a half later she also got some letters and cards from people back home and that really made her feel special and loved. Life was good.
About two days before Christmas, though, she had probably her worst day on the trip. She was so cranky and felt like nothing could make her feel better. She didn’t know what to do, nor did she feel like she could even think straight. She decided she needed to do something about that, though, and ended up staying up until 2am the next morning just crying and praying. Later in the morning, when she woke up, she still didn’t feel any better. It was Christmas Eve and she did not want to be here, be with people, or do anything. (It wasn’t that she wanted to go home, she just realized how often she took things for granted when she was home with her family and friends and she wished she could be there doing those things again.) She told herself, though, that she needed to change her attitude and enjoy her day because it was Christmas Eve and there was no reason for her to be feeling cranky.
She got to talk for a long time with one of her teammates later on in the day, and they prayed together, and then she talked and prayed with another teammate. And then a miracle happened: God totally changed her attitude and she was happy and joyful and just began to love being with all the people that had come to the church for their Christmas celebration. She enjoyed the Christmas program and the gift exchange. She didn’t even mind when she had to do all the dishes at midnight before her team watched a Christmas movie together. She then stayed up until 5:30 on Christmas Day to get her Christmas letters finished for her teammates and also had a couple good conversations with teammates where she apologized for her attitude the last couple days. She had to get up at 8am to start cooking for brunch and that could have made things bad again, but before going to sleep she prayed for grace and that she would be able to have a good Christmas Day, even on so little sleep. It is fair to say that this Christmas was one of the best days/Christmases of her life! It was just so much fun it’s hard to explain it. It really felt like her teammates were really family and they were making their own Christmas traditions together.
The girl in this story knows that the story is not done, that everything is not going to always go well, and that she may have many bad days in the future. She also knows that she is surrounded by family, even though they’re not biological, and that God is in control and has her best interest in mind.
Thank you so much for your prayers and I hope you had a very Merry Christmas!!
We have gone through a lot together this month, and that partly contributed to my attitude-y days this week, but we are still a family and we love each other and we have so much fun together. We’re growing in new ways and God is stretching us and making us more like Him, even though it hurts sometimes. I love Shekinah and I know that, no matter what, these next 6 months are going to be absolutely amazing.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! I love you all!
