Mathew 2:10
When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy.
During the Christmas season I often find my mind and emotions being flooded with memories of Christmas past. Most of those memories are filled with the warmth of home, the smell of cookies baking and the love shared with friends and family. I, like many others also have memories that are bittersweet. When these memories pass through my mind’s eye, I might smile but find that smile accompanied by tears.
During the Christmas of 2014 I experienced one of those bittersweet Christmases. I had been diagnosed with stage IV Colon Cancer 4 months prior and was undergoing chemotherapy. I was on treatment number eight of twelve. I treasured each precious moment with my family and savored, finding deeper appreciation for those “little” moments. My doctors had not given me any false hope. They were straightforward with their protocol, treating me with the most advanced plan they had and as for an outcome they said we would just have to wait and see.
However, my hope for the out-come was in something more. Something not held in the hands of man but in the power of a risen savior. Hope is beautiful thing. Hope is something we must guard in our heart. There was a war in the atmosphere around me that Christmas between hope and despair.
Hebrews 11:1 says faith is the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not seen.
During this time of hope and despair the God that I served sent me help in the way of a star. Every evening, after I had turned my light off in our dressing area, I had a perfect view of the night sky through a small octagonal window. Not just any star but a Christmas star! Some unknown person had strung a large lighted Christmas star on the side of their grain silo a few miles from our house, and every evening there it was reminding me of the hope that was mine because God chose to leave his home on high and dwell among lowly man such as I. He came that I might have life and have it abundantly (John 10:10).
During this Christmas season, if your finding yourself in a struggle with emotion, remember no matter what it may “look” like to the eye, there is a hope. Have faith, it is the substance of those things you hope for and the evidence of the things not seen. Nothing is to hard for God, and one of my favorite sayings, “this too shall pass”.
This Christmas I am 3 years NED, no evidence of disease. Guard your hope, keep the faith!