Free to Worship Him Without Fear

Day 24

"This was the oath he swore to our father Abraham:
to set us free from the hand of our enemies,
free to worship him without fear,
holy and righteous in his sight
all the days of our life.
...
In the tender compassion of our God
the dawn from on high shall break upon us,
to shine on those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death,
and to guide our feet into the way of peace.”
Luke 1:73-75, 78-79

Phew.  Twenty four days of reflecting and posting and plumbing the depths of my heart (or at least as far as I could reach) to prepare for Him.  It's been so good for me to do this.  So so good.  I had no plans or schedule or huge ambitions for this little experiment.  Just a desire to prepare well.  To hold myself accountable and to live this Advent and Christmas with intention and trusting that if He wanted me to write He'd give me the time and words to do it.  He definitely took me from what I thought it would be to a very different place, posting much more from the depths of my heart than perhaps I ever have before.  And you know what?  It's been freeing.  So freeing to come here to this place and share my heart.  And a little bit terrifying, too.  It's vulnerable and humbling.  It'd be easy to be labelled a fanatic or overly pious.  I'm sure some of these posts sounded odd or caused a few eye rolls.  But I think I'm okay with that.  I think I'm currently at a place where I feel free to worship him without fear.  Perhaps if people don't think we're at least a little nutty, we're not doing this Christian thing right.

I'm so humbled by the words of those who have been coming here.  My heart has been filled to overflowing and I'm so grateful for those of you who listen when I ramble on about it.  He is so good.  Christmas is just upon us.  He is almost here.  The dawn is breaking and ready to shine upon our hearts once again and flood us with grace.  He longs to fill our hearts and invites us to come and He wants us to be ready for when He comes again.  I'm ready to kneel before the manger and be filled even more.  I'm ready to rest in the grace of Christmas.  

May you be flooded with His gifts and graces this Christmas and always.  May He free us all to worship Him without fear and bring us to His peace.  May we all be ready to meet Him now and when He comes again.

"Christmas must mean more to us every year, and we must not be afraid of immersing ourselves in its joy.  It is the most natural thing in the world that a woman's heart should be moved to tears at the manger, at the sight of that small Person who is the Redeemer of the world, and that this was the way he chose to come."
-Mother Mary Francis, P.C.C.

Let's enter into the mystery of Christmas together, friends.


3 comments

  1. Thank you for sharing your reflections during this Advent, it has been inspiring and thought provoking for me as well. Merry Christmas to you and yours!

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  2. I have loved your reflections this month - they have added another level of study and reflection to the readings I've been doing. Some days your words echoed the words I'd read earlier and other days it was something I hadn't already thought of.

    Thank you for sharing....I admire your obedience and your transparency.

    Have a wonderful Christmas!

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  3. Merry Christmas Mary! Thank you for sharing your heart! It has been so beautiful to read!

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