Religion

Thanks Miss Emma for our Christmas message

Dear Lucy: This has been a really hard year for me and my family. I am on a fixed income, I have three of my grandchildren living with me and it can get real hard. I don't have lots to give this Christmas and I am tired just watching and listening to all the talk about buying and spending on things that they forget the next day. So much for just one day. The Lord has been good to me and I hope to see another Christmas. We made it through and I just thank the Lord.

– Miss Emma

Dear Miss Emma: You didn't really ask a question and that's alright. I suspect that you could write this week's article for me. You said, "the Lord has been good to me." I guess that just about sums it up. It's been hard sometimes and the Lord has been good.

We made it through to see this Christmas. Is your income really fixed? You made it through. I bet there were times when you simply stopped and decided to rest in the Lord and those were the times that what was thought to be fixed managed to stretch. When we have done all we can do, just rest in the Lord. That's when we get the victory!

We all have so much to give every day of the year. I love Isaiah 61: 1-3. Check it out. I know that you are preaching "good tidings to the poor" every day when you give your testimony of the Lord's goodness. And when you care for your grandchildren you are binding up the broken hearted. How many captives have you set free this year as you opened the prison doors and talked of hope and the Lord's goodness? Who did you help through their mourning? And what about the times when you searched and found something beautiful to think, to say and to do when everything seemed to be turning into ashes?

And right when you thought you could go no more, you just started saying "praise God from whom all blessings flow" and that spirit of heaviness fell away. And sometimes you looked at those grandchildren and thought you didn't have the strength. But somehow you were able to see them as trees planted in the good soil that only you could provide and knew that you could go on just a little bit more. Somehow, you just knew that God would get the glory. These are just some of the things you have already given, Miss Emma.

Decide right this minute that you will continue to see with God's eyes. Take credit for your faith, your hope and remember all of the ways and times that The Lord has been good. Take credit for what you have already given and what you will continue to give by the grace of God.

In this season we celebrate the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ...the same one who stood up to preach in his home town of Nazareth and read this same scripture (Isaiah 61:1-3) and sat down. This was his ministry. It is yours and mine too. This is how we celebrate every day.

Sounds like you are doing just fine. Thank you, Miss Emma for our Christmas message.

Wishing you all, beauty for ashes, healing of broken hearts, liberty from your captivity, the recovery of sight to the blind and freedom from all oppression. This is the acceptable year of The Lord!

Blessings, Lucy

(You can watch Lucy on Channel 17 (Comcast) every Thursday at 10:30 am. (Send your questions to her by U.S. mail to: Heartworks4U, LLC; 4646 Poplar Ave. Ste 201, Memphis, TN 38117 or by e-mail to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Get your free gift at http://www.heartworks4u.com/)

(For help with the feelings that get in the way of prayer and peace of mind, get Lucy's new book, "BE NOT ANXIOUS." Order it directly from her at 901-907-0260 or from her website.)