Tidings of Comfort and Joy

So the past few days have been busy, fun, crazy, and refreshing.  It started off Thursday with being able to surprise 2 of my favorite people by coming home a little early, and Friday night was official Schumpert family night.  Being together with my family has been a wonderful, and if that was not enough 2 of my best friends came in town for the weekend! Therefore I am just now catching my breath, but all the craziness was worth it! Getting to spend quality time with my favorite people brings me so much joy and life!
On a different note, the celebration of our Savior's birth is approaching, and I have been pondering the following question lately, "what exactly is this suppose to look like?"  I am almost positive that there is not an exact answer, but I think just even over the past couple of weeks my perspective of the answer to that question has changed a little.
It started with morning worship at school when one of our lovely staff spoke up about Christmas songs being statements of worship.  I will be completely honest and say that I LOVE singing/jamming out to Christmas songs, but I had never really thought of them being worship songs.  
She brought up the song "God Rest Ye Merry Gentleman." First, I have always thought that this was a weird title for a song, and second, I had never actually paid attention to the lyrics.  Guilty as charged. When she started quoting them I was amazed at what they actually said:

God rest ye merry, gentlemen
Let nothing you dismay
Remember, Christ, our Saviour
Was born on Christmas day
To save us all from Satan's power
When we were gone astray
O tidings of comfort and joy,
Comfort and joy
O tidings of comfort and joy

This is just the beginning of the song, but what an awesome picture of the Gospel! I have probably repeated this one section in this song over and over again in my head in the past few days.

Thursday when I was driving home I was comforted by these words.  I had a six hour drive home which is not terrible, but being by myself for that amount of time can trigger my anxiety.  It gives me too much time to think and allow Satan to come in and attack. But this time I was able to use this time as an act of worship.  It gave me a time to remember that my comfort and joy does not come from feeling fine, dandy, and happy 24/7, but it comes from knowing that in my deepest and darkest hours the Lord is supreme over all.  Little did I know I would need to be reminded of this truth very soon.

Friday our nation was devastated by the tragedy in Connecticut.  This is the first time I have ever wept over a national tragedy, and I remember the only thing I wanted to do was run to a school and grab my precious 3rd grade sister and hold her very close.  Like many of you, I was in a daze.  The only way I found comfort and joy was in reminding myself of what I have spent studying over the past few months. This world is filled with evil and suffering, but we have an eternal perspective.  Yet again, this song came back up, "to save us all from Satan's power, when we were gone astray." My prayer is that through our anger, grief, questioning, and confusion we will find comfort and joy in the truth that God was, still is, and will always be sovereign over all. He is the sovereign king, righteous judge, and supreme creator, and this is what should compel comfort and joy.

Sunday I chuckled a little a church when we started singing this song.  I remember thinking, "Oh yes Lord, I PROMISE I can see where my comfort and joy should lie."  It was such a blessing to be able to proclaim this song that I once thought had a weird title as a statement and declaration of praise to God.

As we prepare ourselves over the next week to celebrate the birth of the Savior my prayer is that we will not lose focus.  My favorite time is the Christmas Eve candlelight service at my church.  I will admit, yet again, that I get those warm, fuzzy feelings when everybody raises there candle, and we talk about being the light of the world.  This is 100 percent true, but most of the times I never actually take the time to think about what this means.  Our Savior left a perfect place to step into this evil world to bring light.  This is the light that as believers we must proclaim.  This is the light that brings comfort and joy when tragedy hits. This is the light that we long to one day see face to face! What a perfect way to receive comfort and joy!

Merry Christmas!

Anna Lauren