The greatest gift I’ve ever held tightly to is the birth of a babe I’ve never laid eyes on. He was born of flesh, conceived as Christ to live holed up in my worn-out soul. Jesus coming to earth is both a joy and a quandary. It’s a joy because He came to save me. It’s a quandary because He came in order to change me.
You can face disaster and see it as a loss, or you can experience the loss and how it changes you for the better.
In my haste, I rushed beneath my breath some uttered whispers hoping that God would free me from the worship of holiday excess. It was six months later in the middle of summer God took me outside of my circle of clamor to reveal a spiritual message He had hibernating from inside.
There was a call that rushed me to the emergency room to my daughter Hannah’s side, and the next six months unraveled like pulled yarn on a sweater.
Amnesia. Long and short term memory loss. There was nothing familiar to her, no vivid recollection of her parents, four sisters and a pet dog. She failed to remember the details of family vacations, her best friends and the love of her life, God. She had to be retaught everything down to the condiments in the frig. Every day was a new day.
Sometimes the antidote to finding yourself becomes more of a burden.
I thought I was being smart sharing Christmas traditions with her, but her only response was, “People put trees in their house?” Sharing the Good News to a small child’s faith is easy to grasp, but to a fifteen-year-old the miracle was hard to wrap her head around.
The next best thing was I took her into a craft store.There wasn’t a glittery display or a single image of a Christmas past that jog her memory. She touched a variety of gaudy over-glittered decorations that stuck to her hair, face and hands. Tears swelled in me and I bit my lip. I don’t know everything that God does, but He placed me in this reality to savor what I’ve been missing. A growing faith in the Christmas miracle, the awe in the eyes of a girl who for a flash I saw once again. I couldn’t tell her I saw the old Hannah, that would have squashed her delight. Instead I enjoyed every moment of this Hannah.
When you ask God to renew the advent in your depths so that you can experience the joy of Christmas for what it is He shows up in the hardest of places.
God gave our family a Christmas do-over. It wasn’t like I could go all out – the doctors warned us to take this season slow and not overwhelm her. We do have a tree, but compromised and didn’t decorate it.
As I read into my life, I see how I don’t fit into a one size fits all spiritual lense of faith like I believed I was suppose to. The story about God’s so loving the world and the birth of His Son is a story that will never lose its power.
Just like every person mentioned in the Bible, chosen by God, He has chosen us too. Christmas is the season for reflection. For preparation and renewal.
You’re welcome, I’ll put her name on my prayer board. I even reread the story and was touched by the phrase, ” the love of life, God. ” She’ll remember because He hasn’t forgotten her or you take care.
thank you
Blessings, thanks for sharing and yes, seeing the season in a different way as well.
Cathy, I hope all is well as you celebrate our Messiah’s birth.
Beautiful story!
thank you Tara
I don’t know exactly what happened to your daughter but I have seen trauma and injury and even depression ans anxiety affect people and cause memory loss. You probably already know it’s the same backward and forward and means grace or favor. That is something to hold on to, He restores souls. Prayers and blessings, expect good things from God.
Thank you friend. Hannah was kicked in the head during cheer practice. It was the first time, so there was a domino effect causing her to forget every stitch of her life. We’re learning all the time to keep our eyes on God and not on the circumstance, otherwise we would be a hopeless group. God’s been blessing her big this week, but we’ve had to walk a lot of hard miles before getting to where we are now. I’m so glad you stopped by