Ellen Chauvin | Soaked & Sprouting

Soaked in God's Word, Sprouting Seeds of Faith

My Debt is Paid: A Christmas Story

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My last Christmas at home. I wasn’t sad or bittersweet…I was over the top excited! I would be getting married in six months, and would spend the following Christmases with my new husband. Who could ask for anything more?

I loved Christmas mornings at Mama and Daddy’s. It was always a free-for-all. Everyone opened their gifts at the same time. Shouts of “Aw, thanks! Just what I wanted” or “What IS it?” filled the room. It was no different that Christmas morning. Wild and crazy excitement filled the air. Except when I got to one particular gift. Everything and everyone quieted down.

I ripped into the wrapping paper, and found – a cereal box! Mama was always like that. Wrapping our gifts in whatever box she found. I couldn’t imagine what was inside that plain ole box. For all I knew, it could have been cereal!

But it wasn’t. It was an envelope, with a piece of paper folded up inside. I carefully opened the paper, to find the title to my car. Mama and Daddy had not wanted me to go into this marriage with an outstanding loan. They had paid off the remaining few months of my car note. They had paid my debt.

Tears of gratitude streamed down my face. I tried to say thank you, but the lump in my throat kept the words inside. They loved me so much, they paid my debt. It was the greatest gift they could have given me.

 

There was another gift given long, long ago. No fanfare or fancy wrapping. Just a baby in a stable, wrapped in dirty cloths. God’s Son. The Messiah. Immanuel, God with us. Jesus.

  • How often do we squeal with delight at the gifts under the tree, but forget the tree at Calvary?
  • How often do we see the red of the Christmas season, but forget His blood that was shed?
  • How often are we brought to tears of thankfulness for the greatest gift God gave…His Son Jesus, paying our debt of sin?

My prayer this Christmas, and every day, is that we would be like the shepherds, after seeing Baby Jesus.

Luke 2:20 “And the shepherds went back, glorifying and praising God for all that they had heard and seen, just as had been told them.”

Merry Christmas!
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Do you know Jesus?

The Awe of Christmas

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The past year or so, we’ve accidentally fallen into a new Christmas tradition: Watching Christmas movies in the weeks leading up to Christmas Day.

One of my favorites is Home Alone. It makes me laugh out loud. Especially when Marv is screaming like a girl while the huge spider crawls on him. HAHAHA!

What surprised me though, is when I felt the pinprick of tears behind my eyelids. It happened while watching Kevin, all alone, trudge through the snow, climb the ladder and cut the top off a beautiful fir tree. I imagined the weight of that little tree for that little boy. It was the heavy weight of knowing he would spend Christmas alone. All alone, he dragged the tree into the house. All alone he set it up and made it beautiful with family ornaments. All alone.

Remembering all too clearly my first Christmas alone many, many years ago, the tears threatened to spill over. There was the heartache of a painful separation with nothing but divorce looming  in the new year. Like Kevin, I put up a tiny tree. There were no wrapped gifts under it, but I barely noticed. I was all wrapped up in the pain of rejection. 

There was no awe for me that Christmas so many years ago. I was all alone.

But that wasn’t true then, and it’s not true now. We are never alone. We have Immanuel, God with us.

Reclaim the awe of Christmas by remembering the Savior.

Jesus left His heavenly home to live with us on earth. He came down to us!

And the Word (Christ) became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1:14 ESV

He was a babe born in a lowly stable. But He would save us from our sins, and live with us.

She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: 

     “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, 

       and they shall call His name Immanuel” 

     (which means, God with us). Matthew 1:21-23 ESV

The birth of Jesus is not the first time in scripture that we see Immanuel, God with us. 

-He was there in the garden: And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day… Genesis 3:8 ESV

-He was there in the fire and cloud: The LORD was going before them in a pillar of cloud by day to lead them on the way, and in a pillar of fire by night to give them light, that they might travel by day and by night. Exodus 13:21 NASB

-He was there in the earthly tabernacle: Now on the day that the tabernacle was erected the cloud covered the tabernacle, the tent of the testimony, and in the evening it was like the appearance of fire over the tabernacle, until morning. Numbers 9:15 NASB

-He was there leading the way into the promised land: “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous! Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.” Joshua 1:9 NASB

-He is here with us today in the person of the Holy Spirit, to be with us always, to comfort and  strengthen us, and to live inside us and guide us: But the Comforter (Counselor, Helper), the Holy Spirit, Whom the Father will send in My name [in My place, to represent Me and act on My behalf], He will teach you all things. And He will cause you to recall (will remind you of, bring to your remembrance) everything I have told you. John 14:26 AMP

In the storm clouds of life, and the fires of affliction, God is with us. He will lead and guide us.

From the garden to the grave⁠1, at the beginning and at the end⁠2, we are never alone. That’s God’s promise to us.

“… and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:20 NASB

And that is the awe of Christmas: God with us. 

Always. 

Forever.

All year long. Christmas never ends when you have Immanuel in your heart.

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel

     Shall come to thee, O Israel.

 

Merry Christmas, my friends!

Ellen

Do you know Jesus?

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1 Yes, we are fully confident, and we would rather be away from these earthly bodies, for then we will be at home with the Lord. 

2 Corinthians 5:8 New Living Translation

2 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. 

Revelation 21:3 ESV