Christmas Hope

This year’s Christmas card carries more of my heart than most.

2025 has been been an extremely difficult, sad, and lonely year. It has been marked by the effects of compounded loss, responsibility, exhaustion, and moments where the road ahead has felt uncertain and heavy. Like Mary and Joseph on their journey to Bethlehem, there were many days when I have felt weary from the road, pressing forward without knowing exactly when or where or if rest would come.

And yet, this is the story that continues to anchor me.

They arrived tired. They arrived with no room prepared for them. They arrived in circumstances that were far from ideal. Still, it was there, in the humblest place,  that the Light of the World was born.

This Christmas card was created as a quiet reflection of that truth. A reminder that God does not wait for our lives to feel tidy or complete before He meets us. He comes into the mess, the uncertainty, the exhaustion. He comes gently. Faithfully. 

This past year has tested my faith in ways I never expected. There were moments when hope felt thin and strength felt borrowed and support was no where to be found. But again and again, God has met me, not always by removing the difficulty, not always my feeling His presence near, but by sustaining me through it, difficult as it may be.

Hope, for me, does not look like pretending everything is fine. Hope looks like trusting that God is still at work, even when the road is long and my eyes cannot see Him clearly at the end of it. It looks like believing that light can still be born in unexpected places. It looks like choosing to keep walking, even when the journey feels overwhelming and my feet feel like they cannot take another step, and when the load on my back is about to tip me over.

As I step into this Christmas season, my prayer is simple and sincere:
May the Savior meet each of us exactly where we are.
May He bring peace where hearts are weary, love where there has been loss, joy where laughter has been quiet, and hope where the road has felt too long.

“And His name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” — Isaiah 9:6

From my heart to yours,
Merry Christmas

With love and HOPE,
Vickie