Coming To Advent Broken

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It is Advent once again---that season of expectation and waiting when we are given the opportunity to dream of new beginnings, new life and new possibilities.   

 In Advent we look forward to the coming of the Messiah as a sign and symbol that God is always doing new and unexpected things in the world... and in us.  

 For many of us, Advent is a season when we have the chance to put the past in the past and courageously and hopefully step into what is to come.  

 But there are some of us who come to Advent broken and in need of a glimmer of hope. We come to Advent with shattered hearts... wounded spirits... lists of our mistakes...   

 For those of us who come to Advent feeling broken, the pressure to create a false face for the world is intense.  Because this is a season when it doesn't really seem okay to not be okay.  

 And so we shove our fears and dread deep into the bottom of some brightly wrapped box, put on a smile and let season greetings pour from our lips in rehearsed words that sound like they are coming from someone else---someone who is happier, more fulfilled, and full of faith.    

 I know these feelings.  Perhaps you do, too.  Maybe this is your reality right now, and you feel like you can't take much more of it.  

 Listen to me.  I want you to read this slowly and internalize it...  

 It will be made new.  All of it.  The light will come.  The guiding star will shine.  Your heart will sing again.  There will come a day when you wake up and hope will have found its way into your heart once more.  

 Because God is always breaking through the darkness in order to bring salvation to us in ways that defy our imagination.  

 I recently read this incredible quote from author Sarah Bessey:  
When we have suffered, when we have been bruised and scarred, when our light has been blown out, when we are ground beneath someone else's heel, I  hope to remember we belong to a God who is faithful to restore us.
I hope that you will remember that you belong to God... that God cherishes you... that God has not forgotten or abandoned you.  And this God loves to show up in the midst of our messes to bring light and life.  

 Be filled with expectation and hope today and every day during this blessed season of waiting.  And be ready to have your expectations blown away by God's unexpected redemption.  

 And may the grace and peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you now and always. Amen.  

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