SMACK DAB IN THE MIDDLE OF—CHRISTMAS (Part 1)

I recently was the guest speaker at a Woman's Christmas Event. Part 1 (here) and Part 2 (to follow) of SMACK DAB IN THE MIDDLE OF—CHRISTMAS are both based on that event's teaching.

Click the link below if you'd like to watch

https://www.jenarainonesmith.com/speaking

By the way, I haven't forgotten about our trip through the book of Ephesians. We will pick up where we left off in Ephesians 5 after we celebrate the birth of our Savior.

Merry Christmas!

This is Part 1 (Part 2 to follow shortly).

I surrendered my life to Jesus in 2006 when I was 41 years old. One of my biggest regrets is that it wasn't sooner!

I remember something I heard Kay Arthur say a long time ago. She also lived quite a bit of life before Jesus. Several years after she was saved, she was mentoring a young woman and couldn't help but think how different her life could have been if someone mentored her at that age. She remembers asking God, "Where were you when I battled sin in my life?" She then came across a couple of verses in Galatians 1 that say, "When it pleased God to reveal His Son in me. . ."

In other words, what she heard God saying was, I saved you when I wanted to save you and I will use all that you've been through for my glory.

That really stuck with me because I lived a lifetime without Jesus. Literally a lifetime chasing whatever I thought would fill the emptiness I felt inside of me. A girl with daddy issues, I spent most of my life searching for prince charming, believing he would some day show up and fix everything that was wrong in my life. Little did I know that that guy would eventually be Jesus—but I didn't know it yet.

It's funny how you can look back and see God working all throughout your life, even before you know Him, and in my case, before I knew He was real. You see, I've wrestled with fear my entire life; still do sometimes. I remember as a kid, I just wanted to be home. I would fake sick just so I could be in my cocoon and not have to go to school. It really had little to do with school per se, I just had a terrible fear of not being home where I knew I was safe. It was kind of like that emptiness I mentioned earlier, I couldn't fill it, so I buried it. And from there, it continued into my teens and then adulthood. I could suppress it for a while, but it would always rear its ugly head.

Oh, and I definitely feared God; and not in a good way. So I ran as far from Him as I could. Like I said earlier, somewhere inside of me I thought when I found the right person, he would fill me and take away my fear.

Personally, I blame Fairy Tales! But I digress.

At 20, scared girl moved to Florida. I think part of me thought that if I lived somewhere else, things would be different. Now my dad did live here, but unfortunately, he decided to leave three months later. But I stayed. Scared as could be, I stayed. Why? I had a boyfriend! And of course, I thought that he was going to save me. Not Jesus, but Tom; Tom was going to save me. Hilarious!

Fast forward, I lived many years without God; made many bad decisions, formed just as many bad relationships and friendships. At 39, I was diagnosed with uterine cancer. As you can imagine, that rocked my world, but I continued to reject the notion of God.

Finally, at 41, I guess you could say at my rock bottom, my sister dragged me to church kicking and screaming. And on a rainy Christmas eve, I met the real Prince charming.

However, I didn’t really know it that night. As you can probably tell, I'm pretty stubborn. I remember running out the door crying and driving what seemed like a million miles an hour, asking myself, “Where can I go to get as far away from this Jesus as possible?” So, I went to my Jewish friend's house. But when I woke up the next morning, I noticed the elephant I carried around on my chest for most of my life seemed to be missing.

You see, Jesus met me when He knew I was ready. Like Kay Arthur said, God saved me when He wanted to save me.

Four years later I met my husband. A man, who thankfully loves Jesus more than he loves me, and I wouldn't have it any other way! About a year into our marriage, I was diagnosed with an auto-immune condition, which triggered insomnia and I've been here for more than 10 years. Now I'm not going to lie, or act like a superhero, insomnia is really hard. Especially when coupled with a new marriage, becoming a bonus mom, and all the other difficulties of life.

BUT really hard is woven all throughout scripture, isn't it? It's how we're wired to grow. I wish it was smooth and easy growing or like skipping on the beach, but it's not, because it's the difficulties that push us to Jesus.

Now backing up for just a minute—I'm still not sure how it all happened, but soon into my walk I found myself working at the church I attended, leading a ministry, teaching Bible studies and somehow I started writing. You see, God saved me when He wanted to save me, and now, He was starting to use all that I’d been through for HIS glory.

Okay, enough about me, now let's dig into what God has put on my heart.

In Acts 17:26-28 Paul says, "From one man he made every nation of man, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. 'For in him we live and move and have our being.' "

I believe this with my whole heart. It's not always crystal clear because doubt creeps in, but according to God's word there is no doubt that He put you and I in the places in which we live, in 2021, smack dab in the middle of all that comes with it—

Pandemic

Division

Civil unrest

Obvious corruption

And unfortunately a western Christianity that doesn't look much different than the world.

It seems to me that God is shaking the whole earth—but more so His bride. We may not be of this world, but we are in it, and we've been called to this particular place in time, to represent Him collectively, but also for a unique individual purpose that will glorify Him and further His Kingdom.

Whether you were saved as a child or later in life like me, God has determined the times set for you and the exact places where you would live. Your life is a significant part of His plan.

So how do we apply any of this to Christmas? And how do we apply Christmas to any of this?

Stay tuned, as we unpack that in Part 2.