Merry Christmas 2022
As we head into this Christmas weekend, we would like to reflect on the beautiful verse of Isaiah 9:6 as it foretells the coming of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. His arrival as a baby was prophesied hundreds of years before his humble birth in that Bethlehem stable.
This one scripture, Isaiah 9:6, so beautifully captures the message of Christmas, and the amazing gift that God gave to us when He sent Jesus into our world!
We celebrate the birth of Christ as a tiny baby…the essence of hope for the future! We marvel at the small child who would grow up and fulfill His destiny as the Redeemer for all of humanity…what a clearly defined purpose and plan!
To know Him is to love Him…this Jesus. He is so much more than can be described in mere words, but words are all that we have here to share how much He means to us. We hope and pray that our words and our actions at Evilena’s Red Dresser are a reflection of the love of Christ.
The ancient prophet Isaiah tells us that Jesus is “wonderful.” How would you define the word, “wonderful”?
In our modern vernacular, the word implies extremely good or astonishingly marvelous…and Christ is certainly those things. But in the original Hebrew language that Isaiah was speaking, the word literally means, “full of wonder”... unfathomable…incomprehensible…
There are many things that we can know about Jesus from history, and from the scriptures, but there are still many things about Him that are unexplainable and truly “wonder-full”...full of wonder! One of the most beautiful things about hope in God is that it gives us the opportunity to look to Someone who is beyond our human reasoning, and above our scope of logic. With hope, faith, and trust, we can look to the One who is bigger than we are in every way, and yet who loves us far more than we can imagine. He is not lifted up so high that we do not have access to Him - but rather, through Christ - He tore apart the partition that separated man from God, and He gives us welcoming access to Himself, because of the WONDERFUL work of Christ from the manger to the cross to the grave to the resurrection to heaven. This is the good news of the gospel story!
This one little verse also tells us that Christ is our Counselor. He will lead and guide us. He will listen when we pour out our hearts to Him.
The next phrase in Isaiah 9:6 reminds us that Christ is our Mighty God. Oh, the power that is packed into those two words! They confirm the deity of Christ, that He is Emmanuel, “God with us”...God in the flesh…walking here among us. These words also pay tribute to his strength…our MIGHTY God. He can do anything. He never fails. Ever. Can you imagine never failing at anything? That is our God!
He is mighty…to the pulling down of strongholds…to speaking the mountains into existence and holding each planet in perfect balance in the universe…to healing a broken body and fractured relationships…Christ is strong enough to do what needs to be done in any situation. There is no power stronger than His power!
He is also our Everlasting Father. How loving of God to relate to us from a position to which we can relate - a parent. Perhaps you had an earthly father who was kind, strong, patient, and worthy of admiration. Or perhaps, sadly, you had a father who perpetuated dysfunction, or who was mean, abusive, or absent. Whatever the case, we all have the opportunity to belong to a Heavenly Father who is always loving, patient, and kind. He promises to meet our needs, to provide for us, to always be there for us - FOREVER. He didn’t simply say “father”...he said EVERLASTING Father. He is a father who will never leave, never lie, never not love you… (is “never not” a real grammatical thing??? I guess it is now!)
This tiny baby who came to us as a precious gift is truly “the gift that keeps on giving.” His vast mercy is still being extended to us today. Our prayer is that you will come to know Him not only as a baby in a manger, but as your Saviour who willingly died upon a rugged cross to pay for the sins of each of us, and who triumphed over death, walking out of the tomb, and ascending to heaven to intercede for us to God, our Heavenly Father. He freely offers grace, forgiveness, and eternal life to anyone who places their faith in Jesus. If you have any questions about this kind of faith, or about Jesus, or forgiveness, or heaven, or the Bible, please know that you are always welcome to talk to us here at Evilena’s, or put a note in our prayer box, and we will be so happy to pray for you, and to connect with you to get your questions answered. God loves you, and the gospel story that began in the manger at Bethlehem and continued to the cross and beyond is for you! God loved you so much that He gave His only begotten son as a gift to the world, so that sin could be forgiven, and our relationship with God could be restored. There is no one who is beyond the mercy of God. He extends His invitation of restoration and eternal life to everyone!
The staff at Evilena’s Red Dresser wish you and your family a blessed Christmas season, and a very healthy & Happy New Year! We look forward to seeing you in our shop in 2023. Thank you for your continued support. We love you!
