Are You Struggling?

Praise the Lord; praise God our savior!
    For each day he carries us in his arms.

Psalm 68:19 

 Believe it or not, my mind still functions fairly well at times.  For example, I can remember when my daughter was born and I got to hold her for the first time.  That was one of the most magical moments I pray will forever be in my mind.

I know there are some of us who struggle during this time of year.  And by "struggle" I mean mental anguish, physical agony, emotional turmoil, all spinning like a tornado within us and we slap on the mask of "I'm okay" in order to make it through the day without breaking.  Then when we reach a place where we can have some solitude, the tsunami of it all comes crashing through us and we feel broken, abandoned, and the emotional pain is excruciating. We believe that NO ONE can possibly understand what we are enduring (hiding) and we are sure that no one cares!

And we are wrong.  First, to all who struggle during the holidays...you are not alone!  There are others who are struggling as well and they, like you, wear the "I'm okay" mask so no one will see the truth.  Second, God cares and knows and understands.  When my daughter was an infant and cried, I got to hold her and sing to her and she would eventually doze back off (or pretend to sleep to stop me from singing anymore).  Guess what?  God holds us when we are hurting.  Not only that, but God caries our burdens along with us until we are ready to let go of them.

God loves us so much that He holds us like His child, because we are His child.  Take heart, the one who spoke all into creation loves you so much that you have been claimed as His child!