Hang On! The Best is yet to come!

*Hang On! The best is yet to come! *

Plagued by calamities and chaos all over the world and with the continued uncertainty of COVID19 and variants, the holiday season is upon us and brings about added tension, bewilderment, and frustration. The year 2021 was a challenging year where many suffered unprecedented losses through tragedies, the pandemic, and natural disasters. From flooding to earthquakes, hurricanes, winter storms, wildfires, and several humanitarian crises at the southern border as well as other places in the world. These crises have brought about tremendous losses, loss of loved ones, loss of identity, loss of jobs, promotions and thriving businesses. Many of these events have challenged us to the core of our being and have even questioned our humanity and our neighborly love.

The holiday season is the time of year in which children and adults alike look with anticipation for the cheer and joy that the season brings. There’s festivity in the air, celebration of the different traditions, gatherings, and rituals, keeping the memories of the past alive, while creating positive new memories in the present and for the generation after. People all over the world come together to celebrate the holidays. Some do so by setting up a Christmas tree and decorating it with holiday decorations as the Christmas songs or carols and holiday bliss permeate the air. Others celebrate by the gathering of friends and families around different events and activities. There is a sense of unspeakable joy and happiness that filled the air as well as good will towards men. As loved ones come together, sit around the dining table, being thankful for the year in passing while preparing to embrace the new upcoming year. For others it is a time of precision, direction and decision in planning and ensuring success in the year to come.

The holiday season is a time of abundant love and happiness as one says goodbye to 2021 and ushers in the new year. The holidays are also a time of fear, uncertainty, disappointment, and frustration, particularly for many of you who have suffered significant losses this year. For some of you, this may be the first holiday without the loved one sitting at the dinner table. For many there might be a loved one at the hospital fighting for dear life. While others are lamenting the loss of an opportunity, a spouse that walked out, a foreclosed home, a promotion that you were expecting that you did not get or battling a lingering depression or feeling of defeat. For some of us we are experiencing a situation that is beyond our control and feel the weight of it all on your shoulders, the heaviness on your heart is unbearable. Don’t bury yourself in despair. Your situation may seem unsurmountable, you have no way out and no one to turn to. Your mind will tell you that it is all over, but it is not. It is over only if you succumb to the lies that are playing in your head.

The bible says in John 16:33, “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” Jesus told us that we will encounter tribulation, distress and suffering will come, but be courageous because He has overcome the world. We ought to be encouraged because He has overcome, and conquered death. Since Jesus overcame the world, In Him we are overcomers. He is the only one who can make you whole again. Jesus is the only one who can make the impossible possible, Jesus can make the blind to see again, the dead to live again and turn your water into wine. Why are you so afraid? Have faith that God will carry you through. You don’t have to handle the storms of life alone . You don’t have to go through it by yourself, call a friend, a family member or a relative, or the helpline. Life’s pressures have a way of overwhelming us, but seek help. It may appear as though nothing positive is happening for you right now. Life can be one problem after another, one disaster after another. The issues and challenges may seem surmountable, suffering from illness and rejection by the people we love. The disappointments and the downs of life are inevitable, but you can have your joy back! You can be happy again! If you have fallen, you can get back up again! You can dream again! You can live again! You just must know that you cannot make it alone. God is right by your side seeing you through every heartache. Jesus Christ was victorious over trials, pain, suffering and death. Because he overcame, hence we overcome and are more than conquerors, as stated in Romans 8:37 -Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. Despite what we go through, we are victorious through Christ who loved us.

The holiday season can be a time of hope and unspeakable joy. It is also a time of miracles and goodwill. In this season of miracles, be that miracle for someone, be that visitation angel for someone. Give to people in need, reach out and be a friend to the friendless, watch over an elderly, reach out or mentor a child, help a single mother, check on someone, donate to organizations who provide services to the vulnerable, the elderly, the youth, women and children. Extend an invite to someone who would otherwise be lonely, particularly during the holidays or any other time of year for that matter. In the words of Mother Teresa of Avila “Christ has no body now but yours. No hands, no feet on earth but yours. Yours are the eyes through which he looks compassion on this world. Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good. Yours are the hands through which he blesses all the world. Yours are the hands, yours are the feet, yours are the eyes, you are his body. Christ has no body on earth but yours.” After all, we are our brothers’ keepers and are blessed to be a blessing in return.

After the rustle and bustle subsided, the lingering problems of the past resurfaced in the present. Feelings of anxiety, confusion, fear flood your mind, as well as frustration about life disappointments. In the natural, some circumstances seem hopeless, you simply must hide in the cleft of the rock until the storm subsides. Storms are difficult to go through and no one can fully prepare for the disasters and aftermath that accompanies it. There are different types of storms. There are storms of addiction, setbacks, failures, disappointments, sickness, sadness, depression, and trials of life. You can be going through the Storm of losing a loved one, and don’t know how to overcome the grief. Don’t give up, don’t quit, keep pushing, if you fall, just get back up again. You ask, doesn’t God care? Will I make it? In the most difficult time, have faith, trust God, do not lean on your own wisdom. Maybe you feel this time it’s too hard, it’s too rough. You lost your equilibrium, but Trust that God will never leave you nor forsake you. God will make a way as stated in Proverbs 3:5 “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding”. Just trust the process!