A Little Out of Sorts

I feel like I've been struck, .....who knows what kind or by what, but it seems I've taken the wheel of a speeding car headed to an unknown destination.  Someone else put me on this course, and there's no way to turn back, even if I really really want to.  I've had no lessons and there are plenty of backseat drivers but no one that is making any sense.  My hands are cold, my heart is numb, I want to close my eyes but I can't.

This time of year can be hard when there are people you love who are not here, and when the ones you love who are here won't hear you.  There's a song I've been listening to a lot, by Sara Groves, called "Obsolete."  You should check it out if you have the chance.  It speaks about feeling dismissed, unseen, obsolete and the rest.  Yet at the end of the song, she comes to the conclusion that even if we are dismissed or disqualified here on earth, our loving and living God will take us close to hold us near.  

Christmas then truly is the greatest time to feel this strangeness then, because we are constantly surrounded by the reminders of His birth, which was the message to all and each of us that He is near, that He heard our cries and that He will deliver us.  He alone is the glorious one, the faithful one, the precious one who held us from before the beginning and then still humbled himself to be born the son of a messed up family and cradled in a manger.

Who is this God, who chose to live amongst us and deliver us from our sins, our failures and our misguided hearts? He is the wonderful God, the only one that can comfort the hurting, sing peace over the sick and dance joy into the disheartened.

Thank you Jesus, for grace when I'm lagging in the race.
Thank you Jesus, for hope when I'm not sure that I can cope.
Thank you Jesus, for your steadfast hand when there seems no place to land.
Thank you Jesus, for peace when the trials don't seem to cease.
Thank you Jesus, the Son, the one and only risen One.