Don't you wish real life resembled Hallmark Movies?

My husband and I like watching Hallmark Movies together  (please don't tell him I blew his macho man cover).  I think what we like most about them is that they always have a predictably happy ending. 

Hallmark Movies usually make life and relationships look pretty easy and there's normally very little conflict between the characters.  Even when it comes to family.  And what conflict there is can be resolved and neatly tied up with a bow in 90 minutes.  My real life's not even close to resembling that, how about yours? 

Truth be told, life can be difficult and messy and many families seem to have their share of some kind of dysfunction or other issues.  Sometimes it's due to childhood events.  Sometimes it's due to jealousy, personality clashes, addiction, mental illness or a myriad of other real life things.

For many years I  "set myself up" at Christmas and made the long trek north with visions of A Walton's Christmas dancing in my head.  In reality my dysfunctional family Christmases included fights at the Christmas table (or soon after) with 1 or more family member angrily leaving the "festivities" casting a dark cloud of sadness and confusion.

All the wishing and hoping did not change the reality of what my fractured family and life was.  So one by one I put all my shattered hopes and dreams into God's hands.  And you know what?  Over the course of many years He lovingly and painstakingly healed all the places that were hurt and mended the broken pieces that I thought could never, ever be put back together again.

Simply put, He made me whole.

That does not mean I still don't wish that things weren't different.  That does not mean I still don't wish for a Walton Family Christmas or that my real life more closely resembled a Hallmark Movie.

But it does mean that whether I spend Christmas with a house filled with family or am all alone I am OK.  In fact, I am more than OK. It  means I am content with what is.

Dr. Phil has a quote that says, "Sometimes you just got to give yourself what you wish someone else would give you". I would put it this way,  "Always let God give you what you wish others would give you, the things that only He can truly give".  

People will always fail you (as you do them).  But God never will.  He is the only One who can meet every need and exceed every heart's desire.

By asking God to be your Savior and allowing Him to lead your life your "story" will have a happy ending with Him in Heaven--an ending much better than any Hallmark Movie could ever have.


Shepherdess Blog
Copyright 2017
Jackie Deems

 Then He smiled at me...

I have never really been a fan of the song, The Little Drummer Boy. I guess I'm just not a "Pa Rum Pum Pum Pum" kind of person.

So this past Sunday when our church choir began to sing this song I kind of checked out mentally--at least at first. Then I decided to listen--really listen to the words of the song.  The last verse shook me out of my smug apathy as I internalized (for the very first time), the words "Then He smiled at me".

Really?  God, Jesus, Creator and Savior of the World born of a virgin smiled at you Little Drummer Boy?  I am not sure there was a Little Drummer Boy who came to the manger when Jesus was born, it's not exactly part of the Christmas Story in the Bible.

But that's not the point. The point is, Jesus (God) came to earth in the first place.  He left Heaven--the Heaven he created--to live a short and extremely difficult life just to be murdered in the most brutal and torturous of ways.  This He did for no other reason but to save us, to redeem us as His own if we believe in Him as our Savior and accept His Gifts of Salvation and Eternal Life.

I accepted these Gifts of all Gifts when I was a very young girl.  And you know what?  I have felt God smile at me throughout my entire life.

He smiled at me when I knelt and humbly asked him to be my Savior.  He smiled at me as I poured out my little heart to Him when times were tough.  He smiled at me when I was hurt and asked Him to heal my broken heart.  He smiled at me when I did not know which way to go and so just simply trusted He would lead me. God even smiled at me when I did not make the right decisions because He knew the road I took would always eventually lead back to Him.  

And, He still smiles at me every day of my life because I am His and He is mine!  So simple--so profound.

But that's not the end of the story.  Because one day, when I leave this earth all the "God Smiles" I have seen in my mind's eye and felt in my heart and soul for my entire life will finally give way to seeing God's Face and His Smile--in person!

"In my Father's house there are many rooms.  

If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to 

prepare a place for you?

And if I go and prepare a place for you,

I will come again and will take you to myself,

that where I am you may be also."

John 14: 2,3

Shepherdess Blog
Copyright 2017
Jackie Deems