December 9

I have always loved the unfolding saga of Joseph found in the Old Testament! To be able to lay out a life like that and feel with passion how "unfair" this was or "unjust" that is connects you with emotion to the real life characters and what they must have gone through.  But what's fascinating to me is to be able to "watch" it all work out as what was seemingly unfair or unjust turns out for good - exactly what God promises!

An even greater saga than Joseph's is Jesus Himself! From stinky barn to wooden cross - unfair and unjust for the Son of God!!! … but turns out for good - our good. Our good and perfect gift. Our Greatest Gift! So that whatever trials and storms in life overtake us, this gift can't be taken. Even when we don't have the eyes of perspective, we can know this in the midst of it all - in our own "Joseph saga". Blessed is the man who preserves under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him. James 1:12.  In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trial. These have come so that you faith - of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined  by fire - may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honour when Jesus Christ is revealed. 1 Peter 1:6,7. 

It reminds me of the analogy of a cross-stitch piece - looks like a hot mess on the backside but when you turn it around, it's a lovely piece of art and suddenly it all makes sense.

Ann likens it to Joseph's robe and the blood-dipped hem with thin, torn places where we touch the place of God. (79)

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. (79)

It's interesting to study the great hero's of faith. And the more I delve into it, the clearer it is that they were not perfect. Their lives were often a mess! They didn't always make the right choice and seemed to make some downright dumb choices!! She touches upon this on page 80 - But out of a family line that looks like a mess, God brings the Messiah. That mess is something we can all relate too and what comfort comes from recognizing that no matter what intends to harm you, God's arms have you. You can never be undone. (80)

You can never have Christmas without also having the cross. It's easy to see the cute baby in the manger but can be harder to link that same baby to the bloodied man on the cross. But there it is. The cries of the innocent Babe under the stars of Bethlehem twist into the agonized cries of the innocent Victim atop the injustice of Calvary. The holy dark over the manger gives way to the heinous dark over the Messiah and the slamming hammer and the tearing vein and the piercing thorn - the created murdering the Creator. (80) 
And God takes the greatest evil ever known to humanity and turns it into the greatest Gift you have ever known. (81) Merry Christmas!

I love her repeating verse you cannot be undone. A failed relationship, an awful diagnosis, a life spinning too fast around you to keep up - you cannot be undone.

"All is grace" (81)  And then there's this song.
Download it for free here.

FYI - loved the quote by Bonhoeffer!