It’s the most wonderful time of the year...truly! With Christmas days away, the craziness of our lives is at a high. Christmas shopping, parties, cookie exchanges, secret Santa’s and with everything else going on, it can be hard to sit and remember the reason for the season. This makes it very easy to get wrapped up in the parties and gifts.

We celebrate Christmas to celebrate the birth of Jesus, the birth of a son that came to this earth, lived a perfect life, free from sin, died and then rose again from the grave. He did all of this just so we would be saved. Christmas is a very important day; it provides us the time to reflect and remember how God is always with us. Not only on Christmas but every day. Here are two things to remember during this holiday season:

God is truly with us through everything.

That is right, no matter what you do, God is always there. Our powerful and holy God could have totally left us in our sin. But instead, He forgave and saved us for eternity.

“God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons” (Galatians 4:3-5 ESV).

Jesus has walked and experienced everything imaginable, all without sin. He will never ask us to face anything that He hasn’t confronted already. Walking and trusting in God can be very scary, but think about how it must have felt for God to sacrifice His one and only Son.

Sending His Son to suffer, made Jesus the provision for all of us. Provision meaning that Jesus provides and supplies life for us. Therefore, God is with us no matter where we are in our life. Hold on to this truth and have extreme confidence in not only yourself and your life, but in God as well.

Christmas is the proof that God is with us in the good, bad, big or small. God is constantly moving within us. We are constantly on a journey with Him. Think back to a time this year when you truly trusted in God’s plan. Pray that God will continue to show his plan for you in everything during this next year.

Christmas is a time of reflection and resetting.

The season of Christmas allows us to reflect back on the year and consider what we need to do differently moving forward into this next year. This Christmas, I want to be more prayerful over this past and upcoming year. I will reflect on the moments I really felt God’s hands in my life, big or small. He has provided me with the confidence and peace in my decisions during the times when I doubted myself.

Looking forward to this new year, it is important to know that God wants and desires a growing relationship with you. There is nothing you could do that would make God turn His back. This next year, I will have more confidence in this truth. I will have confidence in God and in myself through Him. God is SO qualified for anything you have going on in your life, and He will be with you through it all. Reflect back on this year.

Think about everything you have to be thankful for this Christmas. Lastly, think about what you want to do this upcoming year to grow in your relationship with God. Pray for all of these things.

“And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14).

This Christmas, remember why we celebrate and have peace in that there is no one like Jesus. Turn to the Word of God because God is the Word.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!