I was supposed to pick up my son from the airport on Monday morning. Until his flights were cancelled. Multiple times over multiple days. And now our Christmas destination is currently experiencing a white-out of epic proportions. #Canadianwinterweatherthings. There’s not a holly-jolly thing I can do about any of it, so I force myself to exhale a long, slow stream of air… and remember there is One who is actually in control of my out-of-control Christmas! And, friend, maybe you need to lean in and hear this, too…

 

 

My pastor shared on Sunday about a prayer that had been running through his mind all last week. Just a simple prayer—yet both weighty and unburdening at the same time. He encouraged us to hide it in our hearts over Christmas and beyond:

God, I give you everyone.

God, I give you everything…

 I had an inkling that I might need to reach in and remember this profound prayer in the festive season when there are so many moving parts, moving people, moving emotions.

And so here I am, and maybe you are here alongside me, friend:

Control freak trying not to freak out of control.

Work-in-progress attempting to trade survival for surrender.

 

 

“In the bleak midwinter

Frosty wind made moan

Earth stood hard as iron

Water like a stone

Snow had fallen

Snow on snow on snow

In the bleak midwinter

Long, long ago”

 

 

God, I give you everyone.

God, I give you everything…

 

My children, church, challenges

My family, friends, finances,

My partner, plans, parents,

My travels, troubles, temptations,

My health, hopes… and my heart.

♥  Most of all, my heart.

 

“What can I give him?

Poor as I am

If I were a shepherd

I would give a lamb

If I were a wise man

I would do my part

But what I can I give him

Give him my heart”

(In the Bleak Midwinter by Christina Rossetti, originally written 1872)

 

I don’t know how your Christmas plans are shaping up or what your New Year shenanigans will look like, but I do know that at a time of year when we tend to praise perfection and crave control lest our well-intended plans go awry, perhaps we need to give everyone and everything over to the One who knows best and loves most.

To the One who gave His Son as the Greatest Gift as part of His perfect plan.

“This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life.” John 3:16

Can we trust our out-of-control Christmas into the safe and strong hands of our loving Heavenly Father?

God, I give you everyone.

God, I give you everything…

May God bless you and yours as you trust Him with it all,

🎄 Merry Christmas and every blessing for 2023!

P.S. 🎄 If you’re looking for a thrilling, hope-filled, heartwarming story with all the white Christmas feels, check out my new novella, The Christmas Cabin HERE!

 

Linking up with some fabulous encouragers! Check them out:

LET’S HAVE COFFEE; GRACE & TRUTH LINK-UP; INSPIRE ME MONDAY;