A Devotion & Prayer For You

By: Hilary Crane

The holidays are a time for hope, cheer, happiness… but what if this year has been anything but hopeful, cheerful, and happy? Maybe this year has been a year of devastation, destruction, and defeat. How are we supposed to celebrate through that? Do we fake it? Do we hide from all the family, friends, and festivities? Or do we go through the motions and hope for the best?

Often the holidays bring up feelings of loneliness, loss, memories, and leaves us feeling we are not enough. We can’t afford the gifts our kids are asking for, we don’t have time to bake the cookies for the 750 th party at school while dressing them for Crazy hair day, and not forgetting that the cookies need to be gluten free, dairy free, sugar free, and no peanuts. Or maybe we are far from family and feel we are missing out. Perhaps your spouse left the family and you feel just so worn down and alone. If you are in a season of grief, I want you to know that you are seen. You are valuable. You are worthy. Our Creator designed you for a purpose. Though none of us escape this life without loss, hurt, pain, and grief, God is the God of healing, purpose, and love. We don’t understand why we go through these painful events, but we are promised that God will be there with us through the pain.

God told the Israelites in Isaiah 43:2 “When you go through deep waters, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown. When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up; the flames will not consume you.”

When you don’t know how you’re going to get through the day, the event, the party, or as the Grinch says, all the “noise, noise, noise”, my advice is to take a minute. Stop. Take some deep breaths.

Recognize that you can say “no” to requests, and you do not need to always explain yourself. “I’m sorry, I don’t have the capacity for that right now.”. “I wish I could, but I can’t make it this year.”

Remember that you can take the time to rest in God’s loving, outstretched arms for comfort, peace, healing, and guidance. He never leaves. When we feel alone, just say “Please God, comfort me”. When you feel stressed, just say “God, please give me your strength”. When we don’t want to get out of our pajamas and just need quiet, say “God, please give me rest”. Give yourself permission to grieve the sadness,process the feelings, cry the tears, and rest your eyes and soul. God is right next to you through these times.

“Lord, I pray for each person reading this today. I ask you to cover them with your love, your grace, your strength, your comfort, and your healing. Let them feel your presence. Let them know they are loved. Let them see the purpose for the pain in this season, and that you are truly using it for their good and your glory. Thank you for the promises you make to never leave us that are never broken.

Amen”.