by Victoria Heinecke

Finding joy through difficult times.

You can listen to today’s devotion by clicking on this SoundCloud link.

“It is God who arms me with strength
    and keeps my way secure.”
Psalm 18:32 New International Version (NIV)

Our basket of last year’s Christmas cards has sat on the piano, buried by stacks of sheet music. I usually empty the basket at Epiphany, filing the letters and cards to read later. However, I work at a gym and January is the busiest month of the year. Soon the basket was out of sight and out of mind.

I am unemployed through the month of April due to the pandemic, and I am using the time to clean out our house. I found the basket on the piano, frozen in a moment of time three months ago.

As I re-read the letters, one letter in particular gave me pause. It was from a family who had been through trials during the past year. The author wrote about a sign she found in a gift shop with a line from the Christmas carol, “O Holy Night”:

“A thrill of hope, the weary world REJOICES.”

Although her year was a difficult one, her faith girded her and gave her strength for the next day, or sometimes the next hour. At the end of the year, she and her family rejoiced at the birth of Jesus Christ, in spite of the trials they endured.

This year, our Lenten journey to the Cross comes with unexpected trials as a community of Christ. Our faith is being tested and refined in the fires of isolation and uncertainty. However, God is faithful. He is guiding each of us along our journey, individually and corporately.

Remember the baby. Remember the promise.

May next year’s collection of Christmas cards and letters tell the good news of God’s faithfulness to us in this time of refinement.

“As for God, his way is perfect:
    The Lord’s word is flawless;
    he shields all who take refuge in him.
For who is God besides the Lord?
    And who is the Rock except our God?
It is God who arms me with strength
    and keeps my way secure.”
2 Samuel 22: 31-33 NIV

Copyright Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Colorado Springs, Colorado