June Lamb
2 Corinthians 1:2-4
Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai.
2 Corinthians 1 verses 2 through 4. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. Welcome to the Bridgeway Christian Church Daily Advent Devotional for Thursday, December 5th.
My name is June Lamb and I serve on the Women’s Ministry Vision Team at Bridgeway. Today, I am going to talk about hope and uncertainty. It’s my birthday today and I am grateful for the many different ways God has comforted me this year so I can share this message with you.
When we consider the theme of Worldwide Welcome of Christmas, hope and uncertainty is not hard to imagine. Uncertainty is not new. Mary must have felt this after the angel Gabriel gave her the life-changing news about Jesus.
Going along, doing her normal everyday stuff at home, all of a sudden, in the blink of an eye, she is told she will be our Savior’s mom. You can read all about this in Luke chapters 1 and 2. You may also have received life-changing news this year and unsure how to move forward in this familiar season in a new and unfamiliar way. Thanks to Jesus, we have hope.
This may be a particularly challenging time for you. I myself lost my mom during the week of Mother’s Day. This will be my first Christmas without her, so I feel this uncertainty personally.
What will our season be like this year? I don’t need to order her special gifts, but those catalogs, well, they just keep coming anyway. Just going to the mailbox can be an emotional event. Our trip back home is still booked.
I am sad, yet at the same time hopeful that my brothers and I will be able to carry on the family traditions for the next generation. It’s what I like to call a burrito of emotions, excited to celebrate with what my brother calls the Anticipational Christmas Syndrome, and a seemingly constant stubbing of my toe when some rogue wave of grief hits me unaware when I think of what I won’t need to shop for. It happened again just this morning when she didn’t call me to wish me a happy birthday.
All of this is wrapped, in God’s loving reminder that He is Emmanuel, God with us. If you’re grieving this year, whether it’s the loss of a loved one, a diagnosis, a change in job status, you’ve moved and are starting fresh in a new location, I hope you will let me encourage you with what has given me hope. He is omnipresent.
Psalm 23 tells us He is our shepherd, leading us in hard valleys and providing along the way. In John 10, Jesus says repeatedly, He is the good shepherd. He knows us intimately, and we know Him and we follow His voice.
In Psalm 32, God tells us He leads us and guides us with His eye upon us. He doesn’t hide from our struggles. He’s right there with us in the middle of them.
You are not lost or forgotten, even if it feels like it right now or in some moments of pain. He has not abandoned you. Call out to Him as it is written in Jeremiah 33, call to me and I will answer you, and I will tell you great and mighty things which you do not know.
He wants community with us. Cry out to Him and let His bottles overflow with your tears He’s collecting. It’s okay.
It’s also okay for words don’t come right now. There were months this year when my prayers were simply the lyrics to my favorite Christian songs or verses from Scripture. Romans 8 tells us the Spirit Himself helps us in our weakness and intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.
Eventually, God’s hope, comfort, and peace will be restored for you. It may feel like a slow process. At least there have been moments this year when it felt that way for me.
Sharing this message of hope and uncertainty with you is not something I could have done just a few months or even a few weeks ago. I still struggle every day, but recently I’m finding more good moments than hard as I’ve walked with Him through this valley and clung to His word for direction. May I leave you with this word of encouragement? There have been times in the middle of a random day I realized I made it through the whole day and actually had a pretty good one.
I’ve even laughed with my table at Grief Share. In those moments, they’re coming for you too. And as more and more of those get pieced together and you find your strength is coming back, I encourage you to reach out to someone else and share the hope you have found in Him during your season of uncertainty.
His word does not return to Him void. This will be the beautiful fruit you bear for Him and His glory this Advent season. Thanks be to God.
Amen.
Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai.