Things don’t always look the way we hoped they would.

I didn’t plan to miss out on getting our Christmas tree this year.  Our annual tradition includes loading up the entire family and driving to a tree farm.  Then we scour the grounds until we find our favorite,  taking pictures that will be used on future Christmas cards.  The kids take turns wielding the borrowed, rusty orange saw to the trunk of the tree and then we drag it across the lot back to our vehicle.

Things don’t look the way they usually do this time of year.

Normally we would haul the tree home and my husband would get it up right away.  Then I would string soft white lights throughout and the kids would join me as we sift through boxes filled with old memories and decorations alike.  Vince Guaraldi, Michael Buble and Diana Krall would greet us like old friends.

Lastly, we would gather around the lights of the tree, snacks and bubbly in hand, as we recalled past Christmas memories, laughing at some and experiencing a twinge of loss at others.

None of that happened this year.  Instead, I am on the couch with a back injury that is keeping me from doing anything.  My husband and daughter found a tree that now stands in the corner, sad and dark.  The decoration boxes filling an already messy living room, taunting me do something about it.

Things don’t look the way I had hoped they would.

Life is hard sometimes.  Many people are dealing with far greater disappointments than just missing out on a family Christmas tradition.  I have friends and family who are bracing themselves for this holiday season, white knuckling their way through the festivities while in the onset stage of grieving a spouse.

Life is hard and things don’t look the way we thought they would.  This is true.  And yet at the same time there is another truth, God is always with us.

Emmanuel.

It’s not just a name we use at Christmas time to reference God.  He is our salvation, our comfort and our strength. His plan from the very beginning was to be in relationship with us.  When mankind sinned He sent His son in the form of a baby to be with us.  And when Jesus left this earth and ascended into heaven, he sent Holy Spirit to be with us. He has always wanted to be with us.

Emmanuel, God with us.

God with us in our grief.

God with us in our confusion.

God with us in our pain.

God with us in our difficult circumstance.

God with us in our brokenness.

What a gift His presence is to us.  To know that in every situation, at every stage of life, He is with us.  He cares deeply about us and wants to spend time with us daily.

“The Lord is close to the broken-hearted; he rescues those whose spirits are crushed.” (NLT) Psalm 34:18

The Contemporary English Version says it like this “The Lord is there to rescue all who are discouraged and have given up hope.”

Is this you today?  Are you feeling discouraged?  Do you feel as if you’ve given up hope? I encourage you to focus on the first part of that verse:  the Lord is here to rescue… He is close to the broken-hearted.  It’s in His nature and part of His character to rescue, to encourage and to restore hope.  Invite Him into the grief, the loneliness and the messiness of your life.  He wants to be with us in all of it.  He is our Emmanuel and His presence in our lives is the greatest gift of all.