Every year I write out this really long Christmas letter to put in the Christmas cards we send out to family and friends. Most of the recent years, it has been a struggle to get all of our family “news” on one side of a piece of paper. This year it is different. I thought I would share with you the few words I wrote this year.
Loss, pain, and heartbreak are very much a part of our broken world. That is why Christmas is so important to our family, even more this year. Christmas is the hope that in this broken hurting world, God sent his Son to be Immanuel – God with us.
God is with us when we hurt.
God is with us when we grieve.
God is with us when sadness seems too much to bear.
God is with us when we feel alone.
This year wasn’t the year we had planned. In some ways, it was much better for our family than we thought. In some ways this year was physically harder than ever before with our ministry of the community garden. In some ways, this year was emotionally harder than I thought possible to endure and yet here we are. We have endured, because God chose to be with us.
He can be your Immanuel too.
The Wagoner Family – 2020-
Growing Hope 