As I anticipate the flurry of activity of family arriving over the next few days to celebrate Christmas, I enjoy this quiet moment with my cup of tea and the tree lights sparkling softly. My heart is full of joy and gratefulness as I reflect on the event that happened over 2,000 years ago that brings us together as a family in celebration. The birth of my savior, Jesus Christ. A birth that changed the world and changed my life.
I reflect on the young woman Mary who receives a message, from an angel that totally changes her life as well. She is young, engaged to Joseph and looking forward to the next season of her life as a married young woman, planning, envisioning, thinking how it will be to leave her mother and father and become wife to Joseph, to have their own home and perhaps a family someday. She is going about her normal routines of life and has a supernatural encounter with an angel who speaks to her words she can never forget.....she will carry in her womb, the Son of God, the Savior of all mankind! How does a young woman-child from Nazareth wrap her mind around that? Mary, at first frightened by the appearance of the angel, nonetheless, quickly shows her heart of faith. She hears the angel tell her not to fear and then he explains God's plan to use her to bring the Messiah, the promised one to this earth to save. Amazingly, and with far fewer questions than I would have asked, says "So be it unto me, just as you have said"! She, possessing the faith of a child, embraces the message, setting her heart to do God's will! Something that occurs to me here is how well God KNEW Mary, had heard her prayers, and recognized in her the kind of faith and character that He was looking for in the young woman who would become the one to bear and mother His only son. God does know us and know what we are capable of! He knows that some of the things He asks of us will stretch us farther in our faith than we have ever been stretched before. He knows who to ask to do His will because He knows who will depend upon Him for the strength and perseverance to see it through. He knew these things about Mary, and I think that was part of the encouragement and comfort she carried to sustain her through the pregnancy. She, Mary, was asked by God to bring His son into this world. She was humbled I am sure to realize how intimately God really knew her and trusted her character and faith to ask such a thing of her! Each day of her pregnancy must have been a jolting reminder of the day the angel visited and of the wondrous miracle that she was chosen to be a part of! What thoughts must have run through her mind as she felt God incarnate kicking in her womb as she went about her daily chores. How to wrap the mind and emotions around such a thing? How did she hold her tongue and proceed in humility when others taunted and condemned her for her "sin" when in actuality she was bearing the one who would come to forgive them of their own sins? How amazing that Mary at such a young age could entrust her emotions to her Lord, especially while pregnant! And can you imagine the trip to Bethlehem to register for the census with Joseph in the last days of your pregnancy when the way was rugged and you would be traveling upon a donkey? Knowing the risk of giving birth before returning to Nazareth had to be on Mary's mind, yet she forged ahead by faith that God would surely protect His son. How much Mary's faith must have had to be as much reality in her life as the rising of the sun was each morning! She had to choose to live by faith and not by sight, something Christians today are constantly challenged to attain to. Yes, Mary's life was radically changed that day by call of God on her life!
My life has also been radically changed by the call of God on my life when I was a teenage girl of sixteen. However, I was not a young woman of faith, I was a young woman of fear and emotional woundedness and even depression. I did not really know God or understand that He had a plan for my life. I had huge questions about life and why I was even here. I did not feel I belonged. I did not feel I was capable or worth much. I did not feel anyone was proud of me or thought I would amount to anything. But God changed all that, in of all places a little town in Germany called Baumholder where my Dad who was in the Army was sent when I was sixteen. I started attending church there for the first time ever on a regular basis in my life and when I heard the gospel and understood that God not only knew me and loved me, but had a plan for my life. I literally became a new person, changed by faith in God! I left Germany alone at l7 and moved to Ohio to start college and I was able to do this full of confidence in a God who I knew would somehow help me to begin my "new life" in Him and continue to teach me and show me how to become the person He had made me to be. He was my protector, my provider, my parent, my brother, my friend during those years of transition into young adulthood. I look back in amazement at how He took such good care of me and how He even called me on further from Ohio to come to Chicago to go to Moody Bible Institute to train for ministry!
The Love of God is so powerful, it can transform us and help us through the transitions and callings upon our life. As we look at the story of Christmas and see Mary, surrendered to God's call and will, may we know that is the safest place for us to always be! May you be in the center of His will for you this Christmas and into this new year.
Friday, December 23, 2011
Monday, December 5, 2011
CELEBRATE THE TRUE HOPE THAT BRINGS JOY TO THE HEARTS OF ALL!
Since I was a little girl, I have always had a special love for Christmas. Even before I really knew the true meaning of Christmas, I was so drawn to this season because of all the sparkling lights and decorations that captured my heart and all the "good will" that seemed to appear for the weeks surrounding Christmas, and of course the sharing of wonderful foods and gifts being given to family and friends. It seems like I've always had a deep heart's desire to celebrate life and hope especially at this season of the year. My home reflects my love of this season. I try to make it warm and inviting and full of light and color and sharing and giving. I love having friends and family over for a cup of tea, coffee or hot chocolate as we share our dreams, hopes and prayers for our families near the Christmas tree. I want my home to be an oasis of hope and love for all who enter. I seek to be an ambassador of the gospel of peace all through the year ahead.
We have gone through many rough times in this great country in our relatively short history by the grace of God. We face another such time now with record unemployment, many more homeless than ever before, and much frustration and uncertainty about our economy. Americans this Christmas may yearn even more for peace within our own borders as we tire of the political machinations and corruption of some of our elected officials who seem more bent on maintaining their positions and material perks rather than maintaining a climate where men and women can work and provide a decent living for their families. All around us we have friends and family who are struggling to provide the basics that we all took for granted just a few short years ago. We all have family and friends struggling with life issues that are causing broken relationships and hearts. Many are also discouraged and depressed from a lack of hope for the future.
Even with all that said, I have tremendous hope during this season of love and grace, because I know that God has said, "If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and will heal their land."( II Chronicles 7:14 ) I believe the church in America is being called to step up and out and lead the way to real healing and hope in America and we are responding! We must humble ourselves by not aligning ourselves with unbelief or belief in "systems" of thought that leave God out of the equation. We must ask God to forgive our sin of not sharing the most glorious message of hope and love that exists, His gospel of peace, because we are afraid of being labled "intolerant" by sharing what Christ said about himself. He said, "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life, no man comes to the Father except by me." We have allowed ourselves to be intimidated by a culture that shares some of the most indecent ideologies as"Truth" and yet, labels those who believe in Christ and His message as "haters" and "intolerant"! May God forgive us and help us to lead the way to real "CHANGE" in America. The kind that begins in the hearts and souls of men and women who have truly been blessed with the greatest gift of all: true HOPE. Not hope in ourselves, but HOPE in the God of heaven who loves us and has a proven "better way" for us to live. We are offered the most amazing gift and it is ours for the taking. It is a gift that changes hopeless to hopeful, fearful to fearless, joyless to joyful, and lost to found. It is a gift that came in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger! Hope incarnate!
I wrote this poem several years ago and it was published in an anthology of poems. It still resonates in my heart this Christmas as I think of the beauty of God's sacrificial and gracious gift to me and all mankind. It is a gift freely given, but of great cost to God, the Father. It is a Gift that I desire to see always remembered by America!
The Gift Remembered
by Teresa Jobst
The Gift of Love
was first thought of
by God the Father, the Holy One
when He sent His dear and precious Son.
A baby crying in the manger
borrowed from a kindly stranger.
This amazing, pure gift of love
from the heart of our Father above.
The Gift was costly: God's very own Son
sent to proclaim that He is the only one
who can fill the void that's deep within
the simple shepherd or the wisest man.
The Gift was given to be received.
God's desire is that we believe
in the Son whose birth was marked by a star
long ago in Bethlehem far.
The Gift grew from babe to man,
He said that to the Father anyone can
come if they but accept the One
who sacrified His life to fulfill the plan.
The Gift, the Christ, the promised one
died upon the cross, t'was done
that I might know true freedom
provided by the Father, through His Son.
We give gifts of love today to represent
the greatest gift ever sent.
May we with each gift recieved or given,
thank God for sending His best from heaven.
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