By Jessica Brodie

Has this year been hard for you?

It has for me. Even as I thank God deeply for all the blessings he’s provided, I also acknowledge this year has brought a tremendous amount of change and a portion of heartache in our home. I serve as the editor of a denominational newspaper and have for almost fifteen years, and I’ve seen an incredible amount of discord in the last several years, bringing fear, strife, anger, and grief alongside. My heart has broken over the fighting and the distrust I’ve seen among God’s people, even though I understand why it’s all happened. Yet there’s a level of trauma there, too, at least for me. As a journalist, I’ve experienced it firsthand, and it’s left a scar within me. My husband and I have had to find a new church home in the midst of all this.

I am wounded. Yet still, I hope.

We’ve also had difficulty in our family and extended family—a child off to college, mental health challenges, physical health struggles, migraines. Financial pressures.

I am wounded. Yet still, I hope.

It’s all become a weight that presses heavily on my soul, tugging me down as I struggle to keep myself centered and connected to the only One who can heal it all.

I am wounded. Yet still, I hope.

That is where I am this Advent, trying my hardest to step boldly and faithfully into a season of hope and light amid the darkness, sadness, trauma, and grief that threaten.

But isn’t that what preparing for Christmas is all about, at its core?

Isn’t that the promise of Christmas?

Into this darkened, sinful, incredibly needy world, God sent his son Jesus to be our savior. He sent this savior not as a victorious, conquering, mighty champion but as a tiny baby, born into the humblest of circumstances. Into the darkness, God sent perfect light, perfect joy, perfect peace. Why? We can find the answer in Christ's own words, found in Luke 19:10: “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost” (NIV).

As the Gospel of John further explains, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him” (John 3:16-17).

Today at church, as I contemplated our vast need for such a savior, I found myself blinking back tears as the choir proclaimed words I didn’t know I needed to hear: “Joy to the World!”

Joy to the world, the hymn by Isaac Watts reminds us, for the Lord is come. For the savior reigns. He rules the world with truth and grace, and makes the nations prove the glories of his righteousness and wonders of his love.

He does this—our savior, Jesus Christ!

Into the fear and the sadness, the suffering and the challenges, the wilderness that life can bring, the Lord is come, and heaven and nature sing at this glorious, magnificent truth.

So together, let’s proclaim:

Even in sickness … joy to the world, the Lord is come.

Even in heartache … joy to the world, the Lord is come.

Even though waters roar and mountains quake, even when evil is hammering on your door … joy to the world, the Lord is come.

Hope is coming. Christ is coming!

Indeed, I hope. For I know without a doubt his kingdom will reign forevermore.

A prayer: Lord, as we wait for Your coming, strengthen us through Your Spirit. Please grant us peace, hope, faith, and tenacity to press on and to keep shining Your light into the darkness so that all may see and know Your eternal love and saving grace. Amen.

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