The Eighth Gift of Christmas - Even When I Walk Through The Darkest Valley

 The Eighth Gift of Christmas - Even When I Walk Through The Darkest Valley

 “Blessed are those who mourn, For they shall be comforted.” Matthew 5:4 NKJV

 The year 2020 had been a year filled with much sorrow and grief. When God is our Emmanuel and Jesus is our Shepherd leading us through the valley of the shadow of death, joy can be found in our sorrows and the darkest valleys in life. This is the beautiful truth of the second beatitude.

Grief leads to fear and anger. We can confront our fears when we walk with our Shepherd of Love as our Emmanuel. Courage is not the absence of fear but the confrontation of our fears with the assurance that God is with us.

It is not sinful to have feelings of anger but we are to be aware of our angry feelings so that they will not lead us to sin. In the gospel of John we read that a deep anger welled up within Jesus when he saw Mary weeping over the death of Lazarus but he used his anger to raise Lazarus from the dead (John 11:33-44 NLT). We can use our anger to seek the comfort and peace of God:  

“Because of God’s tender mercy, the morning light from heaven is about to break upon us, to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, and to guide us to the path of peace.” Luke 1:78-‬79 NLT