Hope of Christmas part 1: Faith

Hey everyone, So this week to start off the Christmas series I’ll be talking about faith because during the holiday season faith is something that I feel like so many people struggle with both when they’re grieving and just in general. I don’t about you, but this year has been really hard on me, my family, and those around me.

For me personally, I’ve been having to make some really hard decisions when it comes to my life 1 of which is what I’m going to do with my life, and after doing a lot of thinking I made the decision to go back to school next year to be an elementary school teacher. I decided to do that because long story short when I was 8 years old, I was told that I can’t learn because I have high functioning autism and that’s something that no one should be told no matter how old they are. So now I want to reach out to the kids that have special needs maybe even start up a ministry eventually specifically for kids with special needs. Growing up, my mom never let my younger siblings and I use having special needs as a crutch to get out of something and I’m very thankful for that. My point is if you have ever been told that you can’t do something I’m here to tell you that you can do whatever you set your mind to and don’t ever let anyone tell you differently!!! Philippians 4:13-14 (NIV) says;” I can do all this through him who gives me strength. Yet it was good of you to share in my troubles.” Over the years I’ve had to go through some pretty hard stuff and have had to make some hard decisions some of which I’m still in the progress of making but you know what? That’s okay because life is full of twists and turns if it wasn’t full of twists and turns then life would be boring. Although honestly, it does help to have support both from God who will always support you, and friends especially friends that you can trust with anything!

To me having faith means knowing that even when life get’s hard you can trust that God has everything under control even if it takes some time to realize that. For me personally, I’ve had to realize that over and over again especially when life is as crazy as it is right now with a different family, work, and just life in general stuff happening. I know life can be crazy to the point that you just want to burst into tears or take off. I’ve done both many times because of family stuff and sometimes that’s okay especially if you feel like your emotions are going to explode if you don’t get away for a little bit. Hebrews 11:1 (NIV) says;” Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.” Did you catch that? “Faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see”. Just because you don’t see something happening doesn’t mean that it isn’t happening including restoration within relationships and life in general especially in this crazy world that we’re living in right now.

Honestly, it’s always good to have confidence especially if you’re like me and tend to stress a lot to the point that I sometimes if not all the time need to be reminded not to stress out so much which is one of the reasons that I’m starting to get into yoga among other reasons which I’ll go into on a later blog post sometime next year, I think. Look at Jesus’s mother Mary for example I can’t imagine what she must have gone through when the angel told her that she’ll be Jesus’s mother. Luke 1:26-38 (NIV) says; The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.” Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over Jacobs descendants forever;” his kingdom will never end.” Did you catch that? Do not be afraid! If Mary can have courage while being pregnant with Jesus, then you and I both can have courage while going through the craziness of life which life is definitely crazy these days. Do you know who her courage comes from? If you don’t or if you need a reminder it comes from God. Even when life is hard God will always be with you. You are never alone in life.  I hope that as you read this that you’re taking what I’m saying seriously because I know how easy it can be to have what you reading goes in 1 ear and out the other. Because to be blunt I’ve done the same thing at times and I really hope that you both understand and are learning from what I have to say. The same goes for when people are talking to you I have quite a few people primarily in my family that is like that. As I close, I hope you’ve learned a lot from what I have said and I want to challenge you to both have courage and faith and actually listen to what others are saying and what you read. If you have any questions, prayer requests, comments about this post or any of my other posts feel free to comment below, message me on Facebook, or email me at Homeschoolgradblog@gmail.com. Thanks for reading!