Tragedy doesn’t care about the time of year, does it?
Just last night, as I was thinking about how I wanted to approach this post, I heard news of a young woman who was life-flighted to the hospital because of a brain bleed. She’s four and a half months pregnant and in her twenties.
You don’t have to search very long on the Internet to read plenty of stories about heartbreak, crime, terrorism, murder, or a variety of other terrible situations.
Tragedy doesn’t care that Christmas is right around the corner. It doesn’t care that this time of year is supposed to be about celebrating, not worrying or grieving.
Tragedy can strike anytime, day or night. And many times, it leaves us feeling helpless.
The truth is, though, we aren’t helpless. There is always something we can do when tragedy strikes those we love.
We can BE THERE.
When my husband and I were grieving each of our miscarriages, I had various friends and family show up at our home to be with us. They didn’t offer pat Christian answers to the questions of suffering. Sometimes they said very little at all.
But what they did was huge. Just by showing up, they made an impact on us.
That’s one of the reasons I love the prophecy from Isaiah 7:14.
Here’s what it says:
“Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.”
The word Immanuel, as Matthew 1:23 tells us, means “God with us,” so what Isaiah prophecied in Isaiah 7 was that when Jesus came, he would be “God with us.”
As Christmas nears, let us remember this very special gift.
God didn’t have to do it the way He did. I’m certain He could have easily come up with another plan to bring the world to salvation.
He didn’t have to come down to this earth and be with us.
But He did.
He chose to be “God with us” because He knew that was what we would need most.
In a world that sometimes seems as if it’s spinning out of control, we can know we’re not alone. God is with us.
In a season of busyness where people often fail to slow down long enough to say hello, we can know we’re not alone. God is with us.
In a technology-saturated country where people sometimes fail to look up from their cell phones when we’re trying to talk to them, we can know we’re not alone. God is with us.
“Immanuel” – God with us – changes everything.
This holiday season, don’t rush around so much that you fail to spend time with the God who gave it all just to be with you.
And this holiday season, don’t be so busy that you fail to BE WITH the people who matter most to you.
Just as God was with us…may your holiday season be a time of being with those you love.
As a reminder of the special gift of “God with us,” we’ve created some printable art for you. Please print off this artwork to display wherever and however you’d like.
Merry Christmas!
Luke and Trisha write at 
