God Rest Ye Merry Gentleman
Hi, this is Joni Eareckson Tada and what gift are you hoping for this Christmas? Well friend, I will never forget that first Christmas back in 1967. I had broken my neck, I was depressed, I was paralyzed. And I was so hoping that on that first Christmas, God would give me the best gift of all: I was praying that He might heal me. Little did I know at the time that in due time, God would heal me, but on a level I would have never dreamed.
Just two years later on another Christmas, I found the very peace and contentment that had eluded me. I also found joy simply because I embraced God’s will for my life in my wheelchair. And what is His will? That you and I be in the best position, the best place, the most timely circumstance in which God can be glorified the most. And for me? That place happens to be this wheelchair. It’s my Christmas gift. It’s where I have learned to be content, really and truly content with life as a quadriplegic. And it happened in this wheelchair, my place of healing.
Today friend, you might be listening to me by your kitchen sink or at your desk. You might be in prison, maybe lying in a hospital bed, or a bed at home struggling for weeks with being sick. Or you may be laid up from a recent surgery; you might be struggling in your marriage with unhealthy, unhappy circumstances that have gone on for years. This Christmas season, cast all your cares on the Lord just like it says in 1 Peter 5. He may not miraculously touch your place of illness, throw open the doors of the prison, erase your migraine, or lift you up out of your wheelchair, but He will give you contentment, deep and profound. And that’s why you can be merry!
God rest ye merry, gentlemen, let nothing you dismay
Remember, Christ, our Savior was born on Christmas day
To save us all from Satan’s power when we had gone astray
O tidings of comfort and joy, comfort and joy
O tidings of comfort and joy
From God our Heavenly Father a blessed Angel came
And unto certain Shepherds brought tidings of the same:
How that in Bethlehem was born the Son of God by Name
O tidings of comfort and joy, comfort and joy
O tidings of comfort and joy
And when they came to Bethlehem where our dear Savior lay,
They found Him in a manger where oxen feed on hay;
His Mother Mary kneeling down, unto the Lord did pray
O tidings of comfort and joy, comfort and joy
O tidings of comfort and joy
(Previously aired as #7989 on 12/13/12)
© Joni and Friends
