HOPE for Christmas 2011

I wish you a very Merry Christmas

and hope you and your friends and family

have a wonderful holiday.

May you carry the spirit of Christmas with you

everywhere you go!

And may you always hold onto that spirit of true joy

and stubborn, relentless, unquenchable hope

and strong unconditional love

and childlike, trusting faith

that only Jesus can give.

And may the wonder and peace of that first Christmas

fill your heart and life

especially this Christmas and through the coming New Year.

God bless you and encourage you.

Feliz Navidad! Joyeux Noel! Buon Natale!
Merry Christmas!

Joy to the whole world...the Lord has come!

We are never alone, for truly God is with us--Emmanuel.

This Christmas, no matter what kind of year you have had,

No matter who joins you this holiday season

and no matter who is missing---

may you take comfort in knowing

that no matter what,

there is always HOPE.

~Christmas can be such a mixture of joy and heartache.~

I know that all too well, for that is my life story.

But every Christmas, I take great comfort

In knowing that God loved me so much

He came to live among us

To walk through this life with us

So that through every joy and every sorrow

We would know
beyond a shadow of a doubt

That we are never alone.

So, this year, though my heart always aches

For the people I love who are no longer here,

Still, I rejoice for I have so many loving people in my life

And so many blessings

And so much yet to do

And too many people who need compassion.

There are people who need you, too.

Together, one person at a time,
we can make such a difference.

So let your light shine.

You never know who may need the light and love

Only you bring to the world.

This Christmas season always reminds me

That Jesus came to show us

The power of true love, unquenchable hope

And the healing power of compassion --- love in action.

And there is no force greater than the power of that strong love.

So this Christmas, may your heart be assured that
you are loved with that strongest of loves
and that you are valuable and irreplaceable
and may you look forward with HOPE.