Merry Christmas!

I just wanted to share the best parts of this year’s Christmas with you. It started with a friend (Margie M.) giving me an Advent Rope (pictured below). The Advent Rope is just that… a rope that had 25 “gifts” tied to it and hung in my house. Each day there was a different bible verse and/or simple gift that would direct my attention to Christ. It honestly was one of the best gifts I could have received this holiday season. It spoke directly to my heart and pointed me each day to the true meaning of this holiday season.

The second event was a visit this morning to a Cancer Center in a local hospital. I went with a friend in honor of our moms’ and of course to bring Christ’s love to those who needed to spend Christmas in the hospital. It was (for me) the perfect way to start my Christmas day. We met in the lobby and before going up to the ward, we prayed together and asked the Lord to go before us and touch the hearts of those we would come in contact with. As soon as we reach the floor, we ran into my friend's core cancer doctor (most cancer patients have a team of doctors with one core doctor overseeing the medical care). When I say our encounter with this doctor was a “God” moment, I really mean it was a “God” moment. Just that conversation alone made the whole trip to the hospital worthwhile. If that was the only encounter we had, it would have been worth it.

However it wasn’t our only encounter! Our first hospital room visit was with a lady named Katie. Katie will be having surgery this week. If you are reading this, will you stop and say a prayer for her? She is originally from Korea and moved to CT three years ago to be with her two sons. She is anxious about the surgery but seemed encouraged by our visit. Our second visit was with a man named Vinny. We first saw Vinny walking the hallways. We later found out that he was working on getting his strength back so he could go home either tomorrow or Tuesday. When we entered Vinny’s room, we saw a bible on his dresser. He seemed very willing to let us visit with him and shared that he also celebrated Christmas. Our third visit was with a young man that seemed to not be able to talk. He had a visitor in his room so we briefly introduced ourselves and left our gifts as the doctor was right behind us waiting to meet with them. Our fourth visit was with a man named Russ. Russ at first seemed a bit cautious with our visit and wanted to know why we were there to see him. We simple explained that we had spent a lot of time on this floor over the last year and wanted to come back to visit those that unfortunately would have to be in the hospital during this holiday season. Russ, who is known as the weird beard of radio DJs, is having a lot of back pain and health issues. Pray for complete healing of his body, soul and mind. He seemed very weak and on top of his own health issues, his wife just had knee replacement surgery and cannot possibly help take care of him if and when he goes home. When we left his room, he told us how thankful he was for our visit and that we were able to encourage him. The last visit was with Melanie. Both Melanie and her husband are struggling with cancer. Please pray for them. As we left her room, she had an older roommate that was Jewish that we stopped to visit with as well. This older lady had a visitor so we didn’t stay long nor did we ask too many questions. I think if she had not had a visitor, she would have been open to our visiting her as well. Every person we went to visit, we were able to pray with them, leave gifts and hopefully encouraged their spirits in the process.

I really do not know if I can express just how much both of these events touched my heart this year. God used both Marjie and Daniel to touch the deepest parts of my heart. I am not sure they understand just how powerful both of these events have been during this season of my life and how much I felt loved as a result. One of my strongest "love languages" is actually when someone directs my mind/heart/soul towards Christ. I never feel more loved or encouraged then when I am encouraged in Christ.

I wish everyone a "Mary" Christmas. Praying that you all sit at the feet of Christ and are silent before him so you can hear His voice this holiday season. Merry Christmas!