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 Finding Christmas (part 2)

12/18/16
 
For many in recovery, the Christmas season can be a harsh reminder of the wreckage of our past. Pastor Brian continued this Sunday to draw from the prophet Isaiah with a message that each of us in recovery can find the light in through this darkness.
  • Isaiah 9:2 & 6 – The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned. For to us a child is born.
First, a sobering fact. These words were written by Isaiah almost 750 years BEFORE the birth of Christ.
 
Once again I shall draw upon my own personal experience that hopefully translates into your life and situation. With a couple years of sobriety already lived we were approaching another Christmas season. I had no family here in Oregon at that time and was not in a position where I could not fly back to Arizona to be with family. Initially I thought, “I’m good. I’ll decorate the house and a tree and have a good day.” I’ll attend the morning AA meeting and go to breakfast with them as was the group tradition. I also sought church services but quickly discovered that only the Catholics and Episcopalians held services on Christmas day (if not a Sunday). As Christmas approached I began feeling the weight of my aloneness. I had received a few invitations from both church and AA friends but politely turned them down. This was the glimmer of Isaiah’s prophesy that I was not seeing. I was feeling the darkness and was not accepting the offer of God’s light. Truly, I was denying God’s gift and solution for where I was in life at that moment. At that point, Pastor Brian reached out and “asked” me to join his family Christmas Day. I place quotes around “asked” because, as he put it, this isn’t really an invitation. It was something that he and his family simply expected me to do. It was an instruction. It was direction. I followed, and it was a wonderful day that started with my planned AA meeting and breakfast with the fellowship almost immediately followed by the rest of the day with Pastor Brian’s family.
 
As Pastor Brian taught a few years back, God will remove us from the storm, guide us through the storm, and eventually bring us to His home by the storm. On that Christmas several years ago I was literally removed from the storm even after I had refused to see the light offered through earlier invitations. Isaiah was right back then and he’s right today. Those of us in recovery know the darkness very VERY well. Trust God’s wisdom and know that He will deliver us or, at the very least, teach us what we need in order to live within His will.
 
Merry Christmas, my brothers and sisters. I hope to see you Christmas Eve (Saturday) at 4:00 or 5:30 when Harvest Community Church presents, Simply Christmas.

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