Merry Christmas! 

Except … what if this Christmas season isn’t so merry? So many people are in a hard chapter of life. Perhaps it’s the first Christmas without your spouse. Maybe it’s the fifth Christmas that infertility weighs on your heart. Possibly you face the income-versus-expenses struggle or the daily battle against addiction or the pains that come with aging. Maybe you, like many, are just worn down by cumulative hurt, exhaustion, grief, and anxiety.

This pain—your pain—is exactly why Jesus came! It’s because God saw this broken world and had compassion on the people he created. He came because he loved you before you were even lovable. He chose to be born because he didn’t want you to be separated from him for all eternity. He came because his plan is to make all things new.

That’s why Christmas isn’t about becoming merry. It’s about God becoming human—to live for us, to die for us, to rise for us, to bring us into his family. It’s about God with us! It’s about hearing Jesus say, “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).

So even if your Christmas isn’t merry, I pray that because of God-with-us, you are able to have a Peace Christmas, a Take-Heart Christmas, an Overcomer Christmas, a Comfort Christmas, a Strength Christmas.