What do you wish, hope or pray for this season? I’d love to know.
I want to tell you a story about why Christmas is a big deal to me… and it has to do with my faith. ✝️
As a kid that struggled in school from kindergarten to 5th grade, I tried a lot of things to help ease my anxieties around going to school. 🙍♂️
Having spent no less than 1 day a week in the Vice Principal’s office and 3 to 4 recesses every week “posted” and unable to play with my classmates, I was scared to go to school. 😨
I faked being sick.🤒 I tried to convince my parents to homeschool me. I wished upon many stars and I prayed. Those were rough years.
There were two pivotal moments that gave me relief:
🌟 Relief #1: A Rock Bottom Promise
Somewhere around the end of my 3rd grade year, in my despair, I became aware that I could simply “unalive” myself and the whole thing would go away. I grabbed a kitchen knife 🔪 and tried to muster the energy to fall on it, chest first.
Something… no, someone stopped me.
It wasn’t my parents, nobody knew this story until just a few years ago.
A quiet voice, that I could only describe as Jesus himself, whispered, “It will get better.” It shocked me and I believed the voice. In that moment, Jesus became more than a nice idea and a bedtime story, He became, quite literally, my savior. 🕊️
Things did not get better right away. I still had to muster the energy and focus to endure two more years of difficult school years until…
🌟 Relief #2: A New Opportunity
A new school was built just before my 6th grade year and because I lived on the border, I had the choice to transfer. I did. And it made a huge difference. 🌈
At this school, the administration didn’t look at me as a problem. I was never, except for once, in trouble and I actually loved going to school. It was a fresh start. 🌤️
So, to me, Christmas 🎄 is a reminder of who made that promise to me ✝️ and the sacrificial nature of what it means to leave an eternal throne and be humbled to what was essentially a dark, dirty, stench-filled barn on a cold night in Bethlehem.
You may not believe in the same things I believe and I’m not here to convince you, but I am here to share my experience and hopefully give someone else some hope in a time of year that can be filled with love and heartache. 🙏
So, whether you pray or not,
whether you believe in God or not,
I’m curious…
if you did pray,
or perhaps simply made a Christmas Wish,
be it on a star or anything else…
What would you wish, hope or pray for this Christmas season? 🙏🏻🌟
Cheering You On,
-Micah Foster, Co-Owner