Context: God often gives me a special prayer well in advance, ready to post on Christmas Day, but this year it didn’t happen. In fact, I had begun to think there would be no Christmas prayer at all this year. To begin with, I felt I should be able to write something appropriate, but I knew I couldn’t do this without inspiration, so eventually I placed the matter in God’s hands, and let it go.
Then, on the 21st of December, I received a long Christmas prayer, which was very difficult to put into words, to condense, and to edit. Eventually it took the form of a spoken exchange. The first section pictures Christ speaking to us, whilst the second pictures us responding to him.
✝️ She gave birth to her first child, a son. She wrapped him snugly in strips of cloth and laid him in a manger, because there was no lodging available for them (Luke 2:7; NLT).
I was born in the shadow of want,
And lived in the shadow of fear.
I worked in the shadow of hate,
But knew that my Father was near.
I wept in the shadow of grief,
And prayed in the shadow of pain.
I walked in the shadow of death,
Then rose, to save all, and to reign.
The world has now become the Kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign forever and ever (Revelation 11:15; NLT).
✝️ We all have sinned against you (Jeremiah 14:20; NLT).
Though we dwell in the shadow of sin,
And grieve in the shadow of loss,
We pray, and give thanks, and rejoice,
For we follow your way of the cross.
Though we walk in the shadow of death,
We trust in your staff and your rod.
Lord, you are here, in earth’s darkness,
So we sing in the shadow of God.
Because you are my helper, I sing for joy in the shadow of your wings (Psalm 63:7; NLT).
Christmas greetings:
My very best wishes to every reader who visits this website. May God bless you. I pray for you all every day.
✝️ With love, and many thanks for your support, from Ruth xxxxxxx