Merry Christmas Eve.

Daddy, Mama, Tina (sister), Charlie (brother) and Me Christmas 1980ish.

This year is my first Christmas without my daddy, ever. Yep, I was blessed enough to spend all 38 Christmases before, with him and most of my family. That is a blessing and the blessing is what I hope to stay focused on this year. I am also blessed that this is my first Christmas having my brother and his beautiful family here with us physically in many years. There are hard things in play right now also. My mom is having a hard time getting over the loss of my father and I am not sure how to be there for her. I am a fixer and just want to make it all better so we can get back to being happy....but guess what? I can't fix this. However I do know that God is at work in our lives and He wants to bring about beauty. He is our father and has been since we surrendered our lives to Him. He will not fail us!

The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit. Psalm 34:18

You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you. Isaiah 26:3

This last verse is my life line when I am grieving. God gave me this verse when we lost our Libby Grace through adoption loss. It is the perfect reminder that peace only comes from our God and Our Savior. He is worthy of our trust and focus. While it is hard not seeing my dad and knowing that our earthly relationship has come to completion, it is a huge comfort to know that he is in heaven cheering us on in our days left. It is also comforting to know that I am surrounded by family and friends who love me, who pray for me and who want to see my life glorify the Lord. Grief and pain at a joyous time is not easy but wasn't that first Christmas tinged with sadness to come? Sadness that would redeem the world? I think now more than ever I truly will be worshipping Christ this Christmas. Celebrating a Savior rather than a season. Praying for you as you set out to glorify Him this Christmas!

“A little while, and you will see me no longer; and again a little while, and you will see me.” John 16:16

This is our hope that we will see Christ in a little while, these times may seem endless but they will only endure for a little while, and then we will be with our Savior, our reward
. Merry CHRISTmas! The Pearson Family!