Hope

Merry Christmas! I hope all who are reading this- are enjoying a blessed and full day with family, friends, tradition and celebration.  I LOVE Christmas.  We are so blessed to have our Wiens' family here this year. We have been enjoying too many Christmas goodies, some good Christmas movies, a birthday party for Jesus, a few (okay- maybe more than a few) exciting gifts and some great family hangout time.

 How exciting it is to celebrate our Saviour's birth today!  What hope we have in Him. At last night's Christmas eve service- our pastor talked about Hope.  He differentiated wishing and hoping.  Highlighting wishing as something that we project into our future-- we wish for certain things that we often have control over attaining or creating for ourselves -- or that we think best suits us.  He highlighted hope as something that we have in Christ -- hope is something that is in our future because we know that God is in our future, He knows our future and overall-- HE IS GOOD.  The passage we focused on is found in Hebrews 6:18-19--

"God has given... His promise... therefore, we who have fled to Him for refuge can have great confidence as we hold to the hope that lies before us.  This hope is a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls."

I love this picture of our hope in Him being our anchor.  As we face our current storm- He is truly our anchor.  I am so thankful I am not simply adrift in these stormy seas.

Yesterday- God blessed us with a precious Christmas gift.  Though Samuel's prognosis remains the same-- we had an uplifting Doctor's appointment.  We are currently 32 weeks.  Measuring at 31 weeks.  Samuel had a strong, snapping (- which is a good thing) heartbeat-- at 148 to 150 bpm.  His movements have increased in the last 3-4 days and we have been enjoying celebrating him so much.  If you had asked me at 19 weeks (when we found out about his T18) whether I thought I would make it emotionally or whether Samuel would make it physically until 32 weeks-- I would have been very skeptical. Now - here we are-- only 8 weeks away from our due date.  Now- we know that T18 is nasty- and Samuel can still pass at any point-- but our appointment yesterday- still left us feeling encouraged and with hope.

Please continue to pray for Samuel's complete healing (I suppose this is a wish-- but is also a hope-- as we know that HE (Christ) is able).  Please also pray that we are able to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus.  That we would remember why we celebrate Christmas this year-- that God sent His one and only son to us-- a King in the form of a baby.  A human baby-- who would grow and experience temptation, trial, excitement, sadness, pain and joy.  A baby that allows for us to have a personal relationship with a God who truly understands us.  This is the Saviour that came to redeem a broken world.  The same Saviour who provides Chris and Moriah and I with the hope for redemption in our current brokenness.

May you be filled with Hope and peace today. Enjoy your turkey dinners!!