HOPE has come...

Wow, words can't even describe to you how much I need Christmas...not the gifts or the chaos. The real Christmas. Every year I seem to need it a little bit more. Every year my heart becomes a little more overwhelmed by Christmas. By hope. This year it really hit me, that Christmas came for the unexpected. The people on the outskirts. The one's that didn't really fit in, that certainly didn't have it together. The entire story of Christ is about a man interacting with the socially lowly and forgotten. That is SO beautiful to me. Just when I think its impossible for me to "get my life together" hope shines through to say "just as you are...I came for you just as you are..."

I think it will always be a constant struggle to understand that this isn't about trying to "fix" myself so that I can have a spiritual life. That its about being free to come just as I am. With all my failures, my past, my doubts, my insecurities, my fears...here it becomes something so mysteriously beautiful and personal.

There have been so many beautiful moments this Christmas. Moments when my heart was so overwhelmed by the reality that we have been rescued. Rescued from ourselves. Rescued from the bondage of hopeless religion. Rescued to live freely and love freely. To be a part of the healing of the brokenness in this world. To think, that even the most broken of us, get to be a part of the healing of this world. Even me. To reach out and love the unlovely. Give to those in need. Rescue those in bondage. Wow. Life takes on a whole new meaning. And all this, because we are SO loved...more than we could ever imagine...

Much love to you this Christmas...