I hope you had a wonderful Christmas and are looking forward to a good 2022.  The last couple of years have been hard on a lot of people for a lot of different reasons.  The pandemic is now endemic (a constant presence) and we are starting to doubt it will ever go away.  People are finding a lot of different ways to cope and not all of them are healthy.

Last January I embraced a particular Bible verse as my verse of the year.  2021 was one of my “read through the Bible in a year” years, and I am almost done.  Only Revelation left to go.  Every time I read through the Bible I find verses that I have never noticed before.  Verses that speak to me in a way they did not previously.  Ways that God reaches out to touch my heart and soul.  This year that verse was Isaiah 51:11, “Those the Lord has rescued will return.  They will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy will crown their heads.  Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away.“

Isn’t that a perfect verse for this year?  We started to return to “normal” life, but there have been bumps along the way.  The Omicron variant is a big bump.  And yet, God promises that gladness and joy will overtake us and sorrow and sighing will flee away.  What a beautiful promise from the God who loves us and continues to care for us every day.

I love the idea that gladness and joy will overtake us.  Something overtakes us when it comes up from behind and passes us.  Or when it comes suddenly and unexpectedly upon us.  Have you experienced joy in this way?  Maybe you are going along depressed or grieving, and suddenly you experience a moment of pure joy.

Yesterday I was scrolling through my Facebook feed when I spotted the Children’s Program from Asbury United Methodist Church in Uniontown, Pennsylvania.  Tom and I attended there when we worked at Fort Necessity and I have followed the church on Facebook ever since.  The spontaneity of the children and their movement as they sang Christmas songs filled me with sudden joy.  It was unexpected.  Gladness and joy overtook me.

Another instance from yesterday (another God sighting) was the sun hitting my star of Bethlehem.  The sunlight reflected from the gold metal of the star and magnified it to a brilliant display of dancing, joyous light.  What is most amazing to me about this display was that the window shades were blocking the sunlight from coming in, but a tiny sliver of light had managed to hit the star just right.  I rejoiced in that light for a long time.

I pray this Christmas season and the year ahead bring you many moments when gladness and joy overtake you.  May you recognize and appreciate the unexpected moments when God’s love shines through our darkness.  And may it give you strength to be faithful in times of trouble.