Christmas 2022 Recap of another blessed but quiet year

“Rise up in splendor and be radiant, for your light has dawned and Yahweh’s glory now streams from you! Look carefully!  Darkness blankets the earth and thick gloom covers the nations, but 

Yahweh arises upon you and the brightness of His glory appears over you!” Isaiah 60:1,2 TPT 

Christmas Greetings Beloved Ones!                                          December  29, 2022

 

I’m gratefully tucked into my cozy home looking out at a wintery landscape.  Another year has passed, and this one has been a tougher one, mostly due to a shoulder injury that has significantly impacted my life.  Some years are “written in minor keys” and despite pain and greater limitation there is still so much beauty in the melody as I look to Jesus for perspective and strength. It’s not a bad thing to be reminded of how much I need Him and how His plans are perfect and good even when I don’t understand the working out of them.  

 

My kids are both still working at the coast.  Daniel loves working as an Occupational Therapist at a neuro unit, and he has found himself a lovely girlfriend named Michelle who also works as an OT with kids.   Patrice is still doing admin work for the Christian environmental organization, A Rocha – Brooksdale.  I wish the kids lived closer, but despite the distance I have seen them often in this past year.  My sweet dog Winnie keeps me company and I have a fabulous housemate, Hannah, who is working, studying, and helping me out. I have also started an online course on Spiritual Direction (thru Sustainable Faith), which provides my life with some much-needed structure and focus.  Plus, the reading material is very life-giving and fascinating! 

 

Mom (95) is being well cared for in a home, but we miss the interaction we had with her when she lived with us.  Tante Hilda is thriving at 91 and still living on her own.  Elsie is doing well, and we continue to have our Sunday evening meals together, sometimes including other friends.  Vic and Marcia were just here for a week, and it was lovely to be together and Vic makes sure to spend lots of time with Mom and helps Elsie and I out with lots of practical things.   

 

May you experience the truth of the Isaiah passage above in 2023!  Although we are experiencing much darkness the light of His glory is always more powerful! 

I will also leave you with a beautiful prayer I read in a Christmas devotional.  It echoes my heart’s desire and I pray you will experience the joy of being “enfolded in His arms” no matter what your circumstances!  

 

Much love from Karen, 

(of the little yellow house on the orchard)   

 

“I am coming, my Jesus. I am coming with my face upward and my hands open, for You have called me. And like a little child who trusts his father, who believes his mother, I am restless until I am enfolded in your arms. I need you in this dark world that shuns the light and rejects You at every step. And I thank you for the music, for the lights in dark places, and for the silence of your smile and your tender but firm grasp of my mind, my body, my soul. There is room in my heart for You, now and always. Amen.”  (Dr. Longinow)