the gift we cannot live without

Have you ever wanted something so badly for Christmas? You just felt like you could not live without it and that if you did not unwrap this certain thing on Christmas morning, you'd feel like something was missing. A few years ago all I wanted was a puppy. Every time my parents asked what I wanted I said "a puppy pug." When they told me I couldn't have that, I said I didn't want anything else for Christmas. On Christmas morning I walked downstairs to find a stuffed animal pug sitting on the couch. I was full of disappointment, almost to the point of tears. It's ridiculous to think about now because I had so many other great gifts, and even more importantly, my amazing family. It's even more ridiculous because they ended up surprising me with a precious, REAL pug later that morning. Once I got to hold my very first puppy, I felt like Christmas was complete and was truly content. My sister did the same thing with hermit crabs. Every year from when she was like 2 to 6 she asked for them and when she didn't get them, she cried. She finally gave up on that dream and realized there was more to Christmas than hermit crabs.

That's what we all need to realize....there's more to Christmas, more to life actually, than just gifts and worldly things. I've had to learn this truth the hard way, but there wasn't a more perfect time to learn it than right before Christmas- the day that so many believe is all about themselves but those who grasp the true meaning of it realize that we are meant to celebrate one gift and one gift only. I've recently been caught up in a certain sin that I just couldn't let go of. I wasn't happy living in it, but I was comfortable and didn't want to have to deal with it, especially during all the craziness of Christmas. Once I was forced to deal with it, not on my own terms, I realized that I was hurting a lot of people, including myself. It wasn't fun dealing with it, in fact it was miserable...but I am so glad I did because it made me realize so much more about Jesus. When I was feeling alone and terrible for hurting people I love, God reminded me that He is ALL I need. It'll be a journey forgiving myself and getting other people to forgive me, but I have to trust that God will take care of me through it. Although celebrating Christmas with my family will be amazing, I realized that all the presents I'm about to receive wouldn't make the situation any better.

There is only one thing I truly need...the gift that Jesus gave me and all of us when He came to this earth and died a terrible death for us: freedom. The gift of freedom that comes from knowing Jesus Christ includes:

• freedom from our sins and past mistakes, whether they happened five minutes ago or five years ago
• freedom from worrying about the people we love because we can trust that God will take care of them better than we ever could
• freedom from trying to make our own plans and figure things out ourselves
• freedom from the titles this world gives us
• freedom from guilt and self-pity
• freedom from everything bad about this earth because our citizenship is in Heaven

This Christmas, I've realized that the freedom that Jesus gave us when He came into this world and gave up his life is only gift I will ever need, the gift I could never live without. This freedom is what will make Christmas, and my whole life, feel complete. In the midst of my brokenness, Jesus is the only thing that can bring me peace and I am so humbled that He would give up everything just so I could be free from my own sin and my own mistakes. My prayer is that you experience the freedom that Christ has given us and that you realize it is ALL you need. 

Merry Christmas everybody, thank you for reading!

"So if the Son sets you free, you are truly free." John 8:36

"So Christ has truly set us free. Now make sure that you stay free, and don’t get tied up again in slavery to the law." Galatians 5:1

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him." John 3:16, 17

"I love God’s law with all my heart. But there is another power within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord. So you see how it is: In my mind I really want to obey God’s law, but because of my sinful nature I am a slave to sin." Romans 7:22-25

My beloved pug, Janet