The waiting…....

Well winter has arrived here. Freezing my butt off here in the Netherlands definitely for an island girl who enjoys a warm Christmas. So let me share with you a bit about the island life around Christmas time.

It is so warm that you can sit in all the comfort of the world next to the ocean, sipping an ice cold drink and enjoy the best parts of life. The weather is hot crazy but also relaxing and no we do not need a fireplace to keep us warm therefore we have 33 degree. Hoping that the Christmas tree survives the heat (it always does as long as you give it water). A Santa in all its winter clothes! Sometimes you will find a Santa with his shorts on heading to the beach with his reindeers. So it totally makes sense maybe just in my head.

So yes we love to celebrate Christmas with lots of foods, joy and laughter. That is where I learned what it means to spend a Christmas filled with family and friends.

My past years have been a different story. Either I go to work and share some joy and laughter where there is none or I enjoy to snuggle up on the couch with everything in armlength reach... and watching a good movie. And no it is not Home Alone 1, 2 or 3...

But just with a terrible cheesy movie.

So this Christmas might be a quiet one... realizing that Christmas is around the corner.. and being single still waiting on some company but also learning to wait on the right one.

These past months have been filled with sorrow, pain, challenges and lots of love. Even in my single season though I am struggling. Being able to experience the joy in the waiting.. I wonder how Mary did it. She had been waiting to marry Joseph and she ended up being pregnant with Jesus. Back in the day (even still for today) it

was shameful to get pregnant out of wedlock. Back in the day it might even be death and bringing the utmost shame to the family. I wonder if Mary felt scared and/or anxious while waiting on Joseph. Not knowing that he would even want to put up with a pregnant woman, even though Mary might have felt all hope that God will intervene. That there is still joy in the midst of the trial. The season of newness has begun, the promise is going to be fulfilled. She was carrying the hope that God has promised. The fact that she was expecting Jesus to be brought in this world. The promised Messiah that has been promised to come and save the world. The promise that many other prophets have been talking about and waiting on. How many have been waiting...

But the time has arrived.. The promise has been fulfilled but it didn't arrive in the way the Israelites had expected... A virgin has given birth, she has been redeemed..

How many times have you been waiting for something that has been promised to you but really ended up not what you expected? I have and I am still waiting on the promises

that God has given me. But there is one thing that He has promised me and given me. I am forgiven and redeemed just like Mary was. Not only because He was born but Jesus died on the cross, rose back to life again and sitting in the heavenly place.

Maybe I sound at the moment like a person who doesn't make any sense. Well I know my brain can be in some way interestingly wired. But just bear with me for a bit longer.

Let me put it like this.. We have been waiting for many things just like Mary had an idea, a picture about her life but it ended up way different. I had a picture in my head too but it ended up being way different than what I expected...

But there is a God given grace to go through it all. Saying that His grace is more than enough for me as long as we put our trust in Him... He has grace and mercy to extend even beyond what we ever can expect. The only thing He asks in the ‘waiting’ is to rest in Him.

So as Christmas is arriving we have been waiting these past weeks looking for hope, redemption, even a friend maybe. Know that Jesus, the Messiah is there waiting on you. He came on earth just for you. Even if you would be the only one here on earth He still wants to be your friend. So let this Christmas be you redeeming season. John 3:16 For God so [greatly] loved and dearly prized the world, that He [even] gave His [One and] only begotten Son, so that whoever believes and trusts in Him [as Savior] shall not perish, but have eternal life. (amplified version)

So let me wrap it up here.. He loves you so much… Let this season be filled with joy, peace, grace and newness.. I wish you a very Merry Christmas and all the best for this upcoming year 2023. That it may be an amazing and beautiful year filled with beauty, peace, hope and grace. May God bless you..

Much love,

Nathania