Christmas: A Hope Story

I wish we were sitting down right now—just you and me—with a cup of coffee. I’d love to hear about your past year and get caught up on where you are in your journey. Wouldn’t it be great if we could spend the bulk of our time smiling and laughing? But life—even a life lived in step with God—doesn’t come with some happily-ever-after tag line, does it? Your story of this last year may be weighted down with medical issues, financial setbacks, relational heartbreaks, or regrets. That’s why we all need Christmas so badly. Christmas … this age-old event that never seems to grow old. No matter who you are or where you’re coming from, it’s pretty much impossible to slip through December without feeling its breath on your neck. It takes over front yards, display windows, family rooms, and radio stations. It becomes an adjective long enough to define things like bonuses, parties, and presents. Airline carriers give it a group hug. Retailers kiss it dead square on the lips. And no wonder. The Bethlehem story involves a counterintuitive plotline and cast of characters that only an amazing and loving God could have come up with. Off-ramp towns don’t stage celestial events. Virgins don’t have babies. Kings aren’t born in barns. Royals don’t sleep in feed troughs. Minimum wage shepherds aren’t your typical guests of honor. But sure enough, there they were … and as a result, here we are. Christmas is a love story, a hope story, a recue story, and a victory story. The baby in that center-stage manger became the Savior on that center-stage cross. He didn’t come here to live; He came here to die … so that you and I could live. We need this story of God’s grace to slip in among us every December to remind us again of just how much we’re loved. We here at Family Matters enjoyed sending this hope-message throughout the world this past year. Whether in person, through one of our ambassadors, through various media outlets, or through one of the many tools God has enabled us to create, millions of people have heard how to turn God’s grace into the default mode of their lives. We’ve watched Jesus do an amazing work in more marriages and parent/child relationships than any of us can count. We’re convinced that the greatest way to strengthen churches and heal our land is to create strong families that are guided by God’s truth all the while tempered by His grace. It’s the logical conclusion of this love story that started in a back alley stable in Bethlehem. We can’t do what we do without friends like you—people who care for us, pray for us, and financially support our efforts. As we look ahead at next year, we already have more opportunities on the calendar to plant the seeds of God’s grace in people’s lives than we had this past year—and this past year yielded a bumper crop for His glory. We’re going to need a lot of financial help to meet these opportunities. As you close out this year, we hope you might consider adding a gift to Family Matters to your year-end giving plans. You can conveniently give online at familymatters.net/donate. If you do, we promise we’ll cover your investment in sweat and put enormous mileage on it. In the meantime, I hope you get to make some great memories this season – especially with the people closest to your heart. From Darcy, me, and the team here at Family Matters … Merry Christmas.