Advent....Our blessed Hope

Therefore the Lord Himself shall give you a sign...Behold a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and His name shall be called Immanuel.....God with us.  Isaiah 7:14

For our family, Advent has always been a time of anticipation beginning with a certain sorrow as we realize our need for mercy and a Savior.  We look forward to celebrating His birth, and acknowledge we need the Messiah for without Him we will not see the fullness of Our Father's mercy and power to save us from our sins, diseases, guilt, trials, and adverse circumstances.... in short,from ourselves.
This year is different....first of all because Barbara is not here. Emotions are raw and fresh.Secondly, and more importantly God is doing something within each of us as a family because she is gone.  Life for us here is more precious. With that realization, so is how and with whom we spend our time....are we doing and living God's will for our lives. We're not walking through our "traditional" Advent and Christmas...I have often told Barbara through the years that God reveals our hearts through circumstances....He has revealed our hearts, and we are realizing more than ever as a family how much we need Him.   Perhaps this is a time for us all to to reflect on our need for His mercy and salvation as we go through this season.
Was out at Barbara's grave above the Shenandoah River  this week, musing on John the Baptist calling us down to the river....could almost hear him saying, "Prepare ye the Way of the Lord!"  I could feel my hesitancy....Father I don't want to go..I won't go....this is too hard.
Looked up and saw just one eagle flying...Every time before I'd seen two...then some words came to me... ."you're not flying solo...I AM with you."
(interesting note...the beginning background music to this video is Hatikvah, the Hope, National Anthem of Israel...pray for them to embrace their Messiah for whom they don't need to wait for anymore for He is here.)

In His grip,
Papa Tripp