Credit: Mars Hill

I’ve been in a Christmas funk! I just haven’t had the Christmas/Holiday/December excitement that I usually have. The month started off with the death of a church family member. John had cancer so it was not entirely unexpected, but it was still disturbing. I miss him. Then a young 16-year-old girl from our church died. I didn’t know her, but my heart was in pain for her parents. Following that we heard that an old friend, Tanya, who lived her life in a wheelchair and was still too young, died suddenly, leaving her 14-year-old daughter on this earth. And then of course, the awful tragic news of all those senseless deaths in Connecticut. Like you, I’ve cried several times a day, watching the news and thinking about the pain those families are in. In between this news, several friends have found out they have cancer and have a long fight ahead of them.

I have my own pain too. Nothing as dramatic as a death or cancer. But it’s my own burdens which weigh on me daily. I share it with my husband, we try to carry it together, but it is a heaviness indeed.

Each morning, like many of you, I try to read the Bible and pray. And when I am finished, I always feel better. My spirits are lifted up little by little. The other day I read about forgiveness and felt the weight of my own sin of holding on to my unforgiveness of others. If Jesus loved me so much that he came as a baby to die for me, the least I can do is forgive the people around me!

On another morning I was reminded about the sacrifice and the faith that it took for the wise men to travel for two years just so that they could worship Jesus! I was so humbled by their faith. It just renewed my faith and my heart welled up with joy as I remembered how amazing the Son of God really is.

So I live with hope. Hope for the future. Hope that God is still in control. Hope that I serve a God who knows what He is doing. Hope that my Savior will return for me one day in the clouds.

The people we serve and the people you support with your prayers and finances have no hope. They don’t have God’s Words to read each morning to get out of their “funk.” Isn’t that awful? And they still live in darkness.

You make it possible for them to one day live in Light and to live with HOPE. And they will never be able to thank you. But we can.

So, thank you! Thank you for your faith, your love, and your hope. We couldn’t be serving the Lord, helping to bring the hope of Jesus to the world, without you.

Have a Merry, Hopeful Christmas and a Blessed New Year!
Anne and Ken

Wycliffe Bible Translators