How To Allow Your Heart To Have Faith Even When Your Life Feels Challenging | Merry Christmas

Beloved friend, Merry Christmas! If you’re reading this it tells me you’ve been having a hard time in life with different challenges. You’ve been fighting to stay strong this whole season of CRAZY. You’ve been wondering if you’re ever going to feel different. Your faith is feeling almost non-existent. You feel guilty for wanting this “magical” season of the Holidays to just rush by because it’s just another reminder of the losses you’ve had and the un-accomplished goals of your year.

I just cried at the grocery store because one of the gentlemen bagging my groceries asked me if I was ready for Christmas. I told him, “Logistically yes sort of, but emotionally, NO. My dad died two years ago and my heart just hurts.” He told me that my dad was there for me and that he would give me strength when I needed it. Well. I am a tearful mess this morning. So much grief to work through. But guess what. It doesn’t feel like a Merry Christmas. OR is it? Is Merry just like Joy? That even in our grief and through our tears, we see the hope of glory peaking though and it gives our pain meaning.

Christmas just got so complicated for some of us. It used to be just a time of fun, but now through loss or trauma, some of us have entered into a new club of Merry Christmas riddled with grief and so many complex and complicated emotions. Well. You didn’t know how encouraging this post would be, did you?

I’m sorry I’m kind of just letting it all out. I’m hurting so bad and I keep feeling guilty for being like a broken record about my father’s death but oh my goodness it’s painful. When I started this blog it had so little to do with finding the right SEO or the right title or anything fancy for that matter. It was a means for me to cope and hopefully bring encouragement to you if you’re struggling like me; To share how God was healing me and working through me as a result of difficult issues. But through the years with the want to grow and expand I’ve also added more to the site to make it a place where you feel safe, inspired, and have a community of real women living life with authenticity and this blog has become more about YOU, which I’m so happy about.

However, I miss being able to just write about the things I’m really going through. So I am feeling like I’ve created a platform on which I no longer have the creative freedom to really just be on. I have no idea if I’m even making any sense right now. But I guess as I learn and will continue to evolve hopefully to make this a place for BOTH you and me. Just know though; I’m broken and I make a lot of mistakes. So bare with me as I figure things out.

My point is this: if you feel sad. It’s okay. You are welcome to feel all of your feelings.

If you feel depressed. it makes sense, due to how much you’ve been through. It’s not your identity and you will not stay like this forever.

If you feel angry. It’s okay. Let’s figure out what’s really hurting and help you to feel calm again.

If you feel grieved. Know you’re not alone and that heart quake of sadness that wash of overwhelming emotions and your heart just feels raw. It’s evidence you have LOVED. And that takes courage. Bravo. I don’t want you to go from this post without being certain that you are safe to feel all of your feelings. Especially with God. He is able to heal you and carry your heart.

Thank you for visiting me today. I pray that no matter your challenges you would abide in God and know that the faith HE has for you will never die. And no matter how low you feel he will always catch you with his perfect patience.

Have yourself a very Merry Christmas. Because Christmas is a vertical celebration of the relationship that has the power to change our lives forever.

We are hard-pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. Through suffering, our bodies continue to share in the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be seen in our bodies.For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may also be revealed in our mortal body.For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may also be revealed in our mortal body.

2 Corinthians 4: 8-13

This will be my last post until 2022. I’m looking forward to continuing to serve you and to making content that I pray encourages your everyday life. See you next year, beloved friend.

Photo by: Tori Wible Photography