Nate and I have been reading through Ann Voskamp’s Christmas devotional this advent season. It’s called “The Greatest Gift: Unwrapping the Full Love Story of Christmas.” She is an amazing writer that speaks truth in such poetic and profound ways. In one devotional we read this week, Ann talked about difficult times that make us feel like we are going to fall apart. She wrote, “What was intended to tear you apart, God intends it to set you apart. What has torn you, God makes a thin place to see glory. Whatever happens, whatever unfolds, whatever unravels, you can never be undone.” No matter what you are going through his Christmas season, know that when you are in God, you cannot be undone.
Ann identifies the cross as “the epitome of evil,” where “the created murdered the Creator.” Even in “the most monstrous evil” that the world has ever known, we were not undone. God did not come undone. The world did not come undone. Through the worst event in history, we have the greatest gift that we could ever imagine. Through the cross, we can have everything that God intended for us.
If God can make the best gift ever out of the worst evil in history, can’t He do the same with our situations? Even in the most difficult times, we can be encouraged by the truth that God will work everything together for good (Romans 8:28).
Thomas Watson writes this: “To know that nothing hurts the godly, is a matter of comfort; but to be assured that all things which fall out shall co-operate for their good, that their crosses shall be turned into blessings, that showers of affliction water the withering root of their grace and make it flourish more; this may fill their hearts with joy till they run over.”
I hope that this Christmas season that your heart will be running over with joy, knowing that our God will not only protect you, but that He will turn everything, including the most difficult situations, into good, just because of who He is.
“No matter what intends to harm you… God is never absent, never impotent, never distant. You can never be undone.”
Miranda Huyck
Children’s Ministry Director
