"Refocusing"

 

“Refocusing”

 

Our country has taken a decided turn for the worse this past year. Much if not all of the lawlessness we read about and see on TV has one source: what I want. And I don’t care what you want.

Thank God that our Savior, Jesus Christ, is not like that! It was not selfishness and entitlement that made Jesus leave the glories of heaven to come to earth to be born of a virgin. Or to die on a cross to pay the ultimate price so that each one of us can have our sins forgiven and have an eternal and precious relationship with Him. As God, Jesus knew what He would suffer for us and He did it anyway—not because He was out for Himself but because He was all out for His Father. And for all of us.

Pondering all of this, God gave me the words to this poem on Thanksgiving Day:

This year has sure seen its hardships galore, Things we had never experienced before.

Crime running rampant and God pushed away Has produced in this country a spiritual decay,

 

So we try to refocus our hearts and our minds On what we can praise God for—all different kinds!

As we list them aloud and give praise to our King, We once more declare Him as Lord of all things!

Many of us have had losses during 2020, some of them deep and tragic. But our God is still on the throne. Nothing takes Him by surprise, even if all that has happened this past year took us by surprise. So we can either gripe or choose to be thankful, knowing that we have a God Who is the same yesterday, today and forever.

For us personally, isolation was one of the hardest things, missing family and friends. Zoom, phone calls and texts are not the same but if 2020 had happened in 1950 we would never have been able to “see” each other at all. So we’re thankful. Our small group, which used to meet for Bible study twice a month, has been faithful with group texts, supporting one another, praying for each other and offering each other much needed comic relief. Laughter is good!

An account of Jesus’ healing of a blind man concludes in this way: “…His eyes were opened, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly.” (Mark 8:25). Similarly, may we allow God to refocus our vision in 2021.

 

Grace and Blessings!

Karen McMillan

(Except for the last paragraph this was part of our annual Christmas letter to family and friends.)