It was a blessed Christmas Day, to rest in the Christmas prepwork now DONE (except the dishes, but they can wait), and just as blessed on Christmas Eve – this is how that day played out:

It’s fair to say that Christmas Eve, it was God’s choice for how my game plan would go.  I thought I had a plan for the day but He rearranged it HIS Way. I WAS going to travel the hour South to be at one church for outdoor living nativity caroling and smores and a church service in an open air tent. I still believe that the less time you are inside, the better – just GO OUTSIDE!!!… of course, I had so much to do in the morning first, still shopping and wrapping and life… so, in the afternoon I planned (God willing) to go to church(es), even though my kids didn’t want to go. I thought I would be blessed to see my friends, and sing and feel the Christmas love, especially outside and it was 60 degrees in December! BUT, the weather changed all that. No tent, no smores outside, just DOWNPOURS!!!… I still was considering going, even packed my car, it’s an hour drive, but then my son asked to do some shopping with me, SO RARE, and it became more and more CLEAR – God had me CHANGE my GEAR. Lord knows it’s my children, His children, and time with them which I hold most DEAR.

and then, my hip. Owww… I did something – or God touched it – because my wrestling decisions were solved by asking Him, the Lord to help me – AND HE DID by stopping me by temporarily stopping me in my tracks!

Owwww… what did I do? Twist it getting out of the car? hoping over a snowbank? No clue, but out it went. It’s fine now. I’ve done that before, then it takes a good mini rest to click it back in – old bursitis rears its wacky ways on occasions. I knew I had to pause and lay down to reset it, you can’t ignore it or walk it off. No worries about it but home I was and the couch I went… So, no attempt to get anywhere for a couple hours – off the table, and I went off my feet. Watched some parts of a movie. Watched (heard) my daughter cook herself some food (yes!). Watched my neighbor drop off goodies – yum! 

I did get up after an hour or so – the hip was fine enough and I did walk it mid-afternoon – fabulous 60 degrees and not raining at that point. So, in my walk I started noticing people outside – then a little boy (maybe 4?) said: “Get out of the road, you don’t want to get hit by a car!” and he wanted me to stay on his driveway with mom and him and dad because Santa was coming!! I then heard the sirens – oh Santa was indeed coming on his firetruck after all!!!  wow – I was so amazed at the social nature of this little boy but especially looking out for me and others – his mom said he was always social – I get that! and so we waited and talked and waited…  Santa makes his rounds so you hear him FOREVER until he gets to your road – so I excused myself from this driveway party – and thanked the little boy (how blessed to be in a Christmas moment with a child – my teenagers were not amused to see Santa or even his firetruck – but I love a parade!) – and I kept walking – I waved “Hi” to like 20 sets of neighbors – like walking a parade route – and then I got home to my house and chatted with our neighbors, gave them cookies, and gave Santa a HUGE wave on his amazing fire truck. Blessed to hold my fingers in my ears, he was so LOUD!

My hip was totally fine by evening. I cooked dinner for the kids, got out my Grandma’s fancy china and tablecloth, and honestly enjoyed playing house…  we enjoyed “a fancy dinner”, the gift of chocolates and a candle and sparkling grape juice from neighbors who brought gifts. We enjoyed playing a video game they choose after dinner. And I FINISHED MY WRAPPING!!! I then had enough time to go to late 9:30 local church with services outside in the parking lot in my safe and snug Subaru, eating peanuts from Five Guys, as if it were the messy floor of the Ground Round… (and how blessed that our new pastor is crazy enough to put on a raincoat and preach in the rain! surrounded by faithful boyscout-like assistants who certainly have been in a rainstorm or two – at least it WAS 60 degrees!!!

And then I got to sing in the Subaru – and this brought tears to my eyes because all the times I didn’t sing in church this year, it is still the most TOUCHING to the Lord that we are singing to Him. I ALSO sang with the online live feed from my other church – both blessed times to sing my heart out. Silent Night Holy Night. Subaru, hold Thy Light. 

Isn’t that just like the Lord to remind us – if we value spending time with our kids so much that HE DOES TOO. The Lord our God values EVERY precious moment that we spend WITH Him. Every thought, every tear, every nap and every awake moment. Every smile, wave, tear in love. Every wrestling moment and move we do – God can let us wrestle and then STILL bless us. Our looking to Him is touching His Heart. 

I feel like when we wrestle with decisions and directions and THEN we place it into God’s hands, we are blessed to watch Him decide the best plan of action. It’s not watching a Christmas movie, it’s actually watching the director’s cut: “and then I placed her over there…”  And even when the results are not what we thought, He gives us peace to accept them. I wrestled with my schedule, my busy-ness, my decision process but I did have lots of options that day – and we do EVERYDAY. Putting it into God’s Hands is the ONLY WAY. He fits in time His Way. We ask to see His face – and turns out all we really need is our faith.

BLESSED

WRESTLED

Lost to God, Won by God, Blessed even more.

Amen

Genesis 32: 24-32 So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak. When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man. Then the man said, “Let me go, for it is daybreak.” But Jacob replied, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” The man asked him, “What is your name?” “Jacob,” he answered. Then the man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with humans and have overcome.” Jacob said, “Please tell me your name.” But he replied, “Why do you ask my name?” Then he blessed him there. So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, “It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared.” The sun rose above him as he passed Peniel, and he was limping because of his hip. Therefore to this day the Israelites do not eat the tendon attached to the socket of the hip, because the socket of Jacob’s hip was touched near the tendon.