Last Wednesday, December 14, we were greeted with a beautiful basket containing candy, ornaments, and other amazing goodies and a card that contained the following excerpt...
"Dear Leah and Anna,
This is the beginning of your 12 Days of Christmas! Consider all these gifts, as they have come from the lavish love of Jesus. You both are in His thoughts continuously and also in the thoughts and prayers of many of the saints. You are both loved beyond measure. I know that this Christmas will be remembered as the 1st one without Chris...but also remember it as the Christmas season that prayers, grace and gifts were lavished on you both!"
The note continued to say that we should check our porch each morning from now through December 25!
Blog friends, I'm struggling to even type this post, because the tears are literally pouring out of my eyes right now. The very Sunday before all this began, I asked the ladies in the Sunday School class I teach to share their most memorable Christmas gift ever received (aside from Christ's gift of salvation). Little did I realize that my most memorable gift was coming later that week.
This has literally blown my mind.
Not because the gifts are so amazing (even though they are).
Not because it's created a sense of sweet excitement in our home this first Christmas without my amazing husband (even though it has, and the excitement is helping us cope).
Not because I think I deserve any of this (because I know I most definitely do not).
It's blowing my mind, because I feel extremely loved right now. Extremely loved. When life is most difficult (as it has been these last 7 1/2 months since Chris' death), knowing you are loved isn't enough. You need to feel it...see it...taste it...touch it...hear it. Friends, I have done just that!
I have no idea the identify of these Christmas Angels among us. Just when I think I've figured it out, I'm thrown a little off track again. I need to quit trying to figure it out...I know...I know.
I simply pray that this is blessing my gift-givers as much as it is Anna and me. I pray that the Lord bestows immense blessing and favor on each hand that was involved in this. And...to my Christmas angels (I pray you're reading this)...you will never fully know the depth of this blessing! You have made this widow's heart sing (Job 29:13b NIV).
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What a beautiful act of love and service! I know it's a blessing to you and Anna. Merry Christmas, Leah!
ReplyDeleteThat is such a blessing! Praying for continued blessings as you move in 2012!
ReplyDeleteCaroline - Thanks so much! Merry Christmas to you too!
ReplyDeleteyouniquemom - Great connecting with you again! Thank you for your blessing-filled prayers!
Leah,
ReplyDeleteI came over to your blog a few months ago through a recommendation from a mutual friend, the lovely Pink Daisy Jane. I have prayed and wept on your behalf, and this post brings tears to my eyes as well. Merry Christmas, and may your heart be continued to be filled with the true spirit of the season.
Carrie - Thank you for your touching comment! I know the prayers of many, like yourself, have carried me through such difficult days! May you have a joyous CHRISTmas!
ReplyDeleteLeah, this story touched my heart as well. Loved the title! During the first year of my widowhood, my 7 yr. old daughter danced in a lyrical dance competition. The song they danced to was "Angels Among Us". Such bittersweet memories! It is the love of our friends, that are our angels, that keep us going during these difficult times:) Cindy
ReplyDeleteOh, Leah. You have such good friends. You're right: when you're hurting, it's not enough to *know* you're loved, you need to feel it. I'm in that place right now, too.
ReplyDeleteI'm really hurting this Christmas because I feel like God has abandoned me. Next month I need to make a decision about giving notice on my apartment and moving in with mom because God simply hasn't provided an income for me. It hurts to wait and wonder if God will provide. I have dry heaves every morning from the stress and I've only slept six hours in the past three days. Please pray that God would find a way to give me a Christmas blessing. I need to know He still cares.