One Word to Help You Navigate Holiday Sadness

The burning bush blazed crimson, and I vividly remember the year when suffering marked our family’s holiday celebrations.  I was alone, ill, and stuck on the couch.  For the first time in my life, the joy of the holiday season was replaced by deep and lingering holiday sadness.

I didn’t want the lot that had been assigned to me.

I had prayed and believed for health, and I’d fallen into a stretch of sickness that was more intense than anything I’d ever experienced.  Aside from a short half-hour in the mornings, I was forced to lie completely motionless and drown in my haze of illness.

After a month on the couch, I hoped to join my family for Thanksgiving dinner at my parents’ house.

When it didn’t play out that way, I watched the headlights pull out of the driveway as I sipped sports drink from my spot on the couch.  A pang of sadness resonated in my heart.

Navigating Holiday Sadness With God

I wanted to say, Really, God? I asked and believed and hoped and prayed, and you’re really going to ask me to walk through this suffering anyway?

I knew the right answers: Suffering produces perseverance, character, and hope. Trials help us to become mature and complete.  Refining fires burn off what we don’t need to be carrying. The Potter holds us like clay and shapes us to the image he desires.

While these truths all sounded spiritual and contemplative, no part of me wanted to walk through that trial.

I didn’t care all that much about perseverance, character, hope, or maturity. I just wanted a reprieve, and I wanted my life back.

Perhaps you can relate.

Maybe you’re navigating grief, loss, or sadness this holiday season, too.

While my difficult Thanksgiving wasn’t birthed from the deepest grief I’ve ever experienced, there’s really no way of measuring a person’s pain without sitting an hour on her sickbed.

I knew pain that year. I knew loneliness. And in the dark moments on that couch, I tasted despair.

Alone and Forgotten

As the evening news blared into the darkness, I decided to make my own Thanksgiving meal.  I scraped myself off the couch to stir dehydrated potato flakes and seasoned stuffing crumbs into their perspective pots on the stovetop: my own Thanksgiving feast.

I mixed the pathetic meal with wooden spoons and scooped it onto a plate, calming my tumultuous stomach with soda crackers all the while.  When the food was ready, I returned to the couch, turned off the news, and sat in silence with the most pitiable Thanksgiving dinner of my life.

I tried to recall some sort of Scripture to console my lonely heart.  Nothing came to mind.

I tried to count a few blessings, but those thoughts only brought tears to my eyes as I sat in the silence.

I attempted to conjure up some melody to push back the darkness, but nothing came.

Dealing With Holiday Sadness

What do you do when all you know to do no longer works—when you find yourself alone with not even the tiniest ray of light shining into your life?

I remembered the words a speaker at our church once shared: When you don’t know what to say, speak the name of Jesus.

As I sat with my lumpy potatoes and stuffing, I took her advice and whispered one Word: “Jesus.”

As I took a bite of my meal, Jesus didn’t suddenly appear. I didn’t feel any waves of majesty, and my nausea didn’t lift.  Nevertheless, a tiny ray of light—a tiny glimmer of hope—sparked in my soul, and I knew that I wasn’t alone in my pain.

I remembered that Jesus bore more suffering on the cross than I could ever begin to fathom.

I knew his presence was there with me.

Turn to Jesus for Comfort

To my surprise, the tears that had welled up over my lumpy meal dried, and the strangest thing happened.  I laughed, and I couldn’t explain it or account for the shift of heart.

Suddenly, I knew—not just in my mind, but in my heart—that I wasn’t alone with my meal.

I knew that my pain would all be used for good, that in the darkest moments of the journey, Jesus was gently sifting the wheat from the chaff in my life.  He was answering my prayers about surrendering control, living presently, and giving thanks.

I also knew that I’d one day look back and laugh at the lumpy dinner.  My hard season wasn’t a forever season.  I also knew that I was deeply loved by the One who sat with me on that couch and smiled over my sacrifice.

When you know you’re relentlessly loved in your suffering, when you let the One who promises to carry you reach down and touch your heart, there’s hardly room to stay offended. There’s hardly room to talk about who’s holding up their end of the deal. There is only precious space—holy ground.

If you’re struggling this holiday season, will you speak the name of Jesus and ask him for strength? He is waiting, a breath away.

If you’re struggling this holiday season, will you speak the name of Jesus and ask him for strength? He is waiting, a breath away. #Jesus #Holidays #Thanksgiving #peace Share on X

Your circumstances might not improve.  However, your Creator wants to give you strength and offer you comfort.  He is close to the brokenhearted.  He collects your tears in a bottle, and he hasn’t missed a moment of your difficult journey.

For more encouragement, join me right here for five surprising things Jesus is doing when you are suffering, or check out the free devotional book below.  Most of all, keep turning to Jesus.  He loves you more than you can fathom, and he wants to carry you through this difficult time.

A Free Devotional to Help You Navigate Holiday Sadness:

I have a gift for you today.  Hope for Hard Days is my free 10-day online devotional to help you hold onto hope when life is tough.  You will find 10 readings to help you connect with God and claim his peace.  Click here and I’ll send it to your email inbox today for free with promo code HOPE.

These books are free on Kindle Unlimited or available to purchase in print:

God wants to work in your life to accomplish what you’ve been unable to do through willpower alone.  Lean Into Grace: Let God’s Grace Heal Your Heart, Refresh Your Soul, and Set You Free shares practical ways to experience God’s freedom, healing, power, and presence in your life.  Find this life-changing book as a free eBook on Kindle Unlimited or for 12.99 in print right here.  (If you do not have Kindle Unlimited, you can try it out with a free three-month trial!) This book will transform your life and revitalize your relationship with the Lord!

Calling all moms and daughters!

Additionally, my teen daughter, Bekah, and I are passionate about helping moms and daughters grow closer while connecting with God.  We have written two mother-daughter devotionals together.  Girl to Girl: 60 Mother-Daughter Devotions for a Closer Relationship and Deeper Faith is written for girls ages 7-12. It includes 60 devotions with Scripture, conversation starters, and a shared journaling section after each devotion.

Heart to Heart: A Mother-Daughter Devotional With 50 Devotions for Teen Girls is for teenage girls ages 13-20.  It includes 50 devotions, each with a shared journaling section to help moms and daughters connect through writing.  This is a great book for moms who want to communicate about awkward topics—like dating, purity, peer pressure, and more—but don’t know where to start.  We will help you!

Multitudes of mothers, daughters, mentors, and younger women are being transformed by these books!  You can buy them as paperbacks or get your free Kindle Unlimited eBooks on Amazon right here.