Wednesday, November 21, 2012

TIS THE SEASON

Good Morning, Mighty Woman of God!  I pray that each of you are blessed and highly favored of the Lord Jesus Christ.  My prayer for you today is that you seek after the Lord with all your heart and soul and as you do this He will bless you abundantly.
 
(2 Corinthians 1:3-4), Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.
 
 My family moved to Atlanta in October 2011.  I am used to spending every holiday with my family members, that's just how we are when it comes to our get together.  Thanksgiving was the first time I was without all my family members.  We were new to the state and the area. We didn't have a refrigerator so we were living out of a cooler at the time.  I began to get a little depressed, missing my family and not having the means or food to prepare a Thanksgiving dinner for my now small family get together.  A couple of days before Thanksgiving Day our neighbors that we only knew for a month blessed us with a small turkey and since it was frozen we were able to keep it in the cooler. On Thanksgiving Day they came over with Thanksgiving dinner with all the trimmings.  I knew that only God was responsible for lifting up my spirits that day.  To make a long story short, that same family came to our home on Christmas Eve, bearing gifts for my son.
 
About the same time while we were celebrating our holiday; a man was celebrating the holidays with his family.  For reasons not known that man shot family members on Christmas day, drove to an aunts house, murdered them, then drove across town to the job he was laid off from and shot people on the premises, then turned the gun on himself and shot himself in the head.
 
During the Holiday Season people tend to get depressed or low in spirit.  Either they are missing a loved one or family member that has passed and will not be at the table this year.  At a time were people are speaking joyful blessings you are filled with sorrow. Instead of a garment of praise you only have a spirit of heaviness.  No one knows what you are going through in your emotions because you are very good at hiding behind a smile that they are used to seeing.  God forbid that you show signs of despair.  You are dreading the holidays because you know that you are easily drawn into a spirit of depression so you try desperately to avoid as many of your friends as you possibly can.  Because of all that you have gone through this year, you feel like there is nothing to celebrate.  Maybe you are not in a relationship that you were in last year.  There are so many reasons why people get depressed during this time of the year for instance (the music, lights, shopping, observing happy people and happy relationship).  God wants to give you this message of comfort on today.  Satan would like nothing more than to get you to a point where you feel like giving up because of loneliness or despair.  Maybe you don't know how you are going to be able to provide a Christmas for your kids.  Whatever the case may be, God wants you to hold on to His love and promises for your life. 
 
Woman of God, the Lord Jesus Christ knows that this time of the year can be very difficult and stressful for some of us. God has commissioned those of us that have a compassionate spirit to show compassion towards those that we know might be suffering tribulation during the Holiday Season.  Keep them lifted up in the Lord and if you can contribute to someone else's family, do so in a spirit of love and giving, just as your Heavenly Father has done so for you.  Watch out for one another and have compassion for those that you know are having a difficult time during the seasons. Women are very nurturing and therefore are very emotional so it is very easy for us to slip into a spirit of depression during these next couple of months.  Just last month, tornado Sandy destroyed families and homes.  A lot of Sandy survivors will not have the home, family member or finances that they were blessed to have last year.  If you are financially able to provide a gift for a family or toys for tots, pay it forward a little bit of comfort that will go a long way in the eyes of God.  Your spirit of compassion may save a life this year.  MAY GOD BLESS AND KEEP YOU DURING THE HOLIDAY SEASON!