Unwrapping Joy When Plans Change: The Lord Is With You
If there is one thing we can guarantee about the holiday season, it’s this: things rarely go entirely according to plan. Maybe it’s as simple as burning the Christmas cookies, fighting holiday traffic, or searching in vain for that one sold-out gift . Or perhaps it’s much heavier—a sudden sickness in the family, an empty chair at the dinner table where a loved one used to sit, or unexpected financial strain . When holiday expectations crash into real-world frustrations, it’s easy to feel anxious, overwhelmed, and completely drained of joy . If anyone knew what it was like to have their life plans turned upside down at Christmas, it was a young teenage girl named Mary . “In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin's name was Mary. And he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord i...
