Electronic Mail, like Grace, is Free

Due to our personal economy (read: Maria quit a most excellent job to move to France!), we did not send out Christmas cards this year. I composed a Christmas letter anyway and finally decided to deliver it. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year 2011!

I love Christmas cards! I delight in finding a fun picture to send or composing a newsletter to enclose. I adore going to the mailbox throughout December and I pour over each individual letter. I love the memories they bring back of sweet friendships and fun times. In a shoebox, I save all the pictures and every family update we recieve. To some, it is an obligation or chore to send cards, but this, my friends is one of the biggest highlights of my year!

Rocky and I have been so fortunate this year! We spent the entire summer living abroad in France. We sampled the wine, the CHEESE (which, I admit, I love even more than the Christmas cards!), the fresh baguette, quiche, brioche, pain au chocolat… and after a short drive we also delighted our palates with Belgian mussels, waffles, beer and chocolate (not in that order!). Georgia Tech gave us a travel budget, furnished our apartment, and paid for a rental car as part of Rocky’s contract for teaching undergraduates all summer. On top of that we had friends and family come to visit, so I got to play tour guide. Oh the lavish blessings I enjoy that I’ve done nothing to deserve!

As I read every Christmas card update, I can’t help thinking about the most important thing I could possibly share with you… something that I’ve never explicitly shared through my Christmas Update in the past. This year I want to share with you something I’ve been too timid to share before now. Maybe I was afraid of what you’d think of me, or if you’d feel “pressured,” or maybe I was embarrassed that you’d think I was less intelligent if I told you I love Jesus. I believe he is the Son of God and that he came down from Heaven to live a perfect life (which I could never do!) so that God’s wrath toward my sin would be satisfied. In doing this Jesus opened up a way for me to spend eternity in Heaven by believing in him. Phew! Now here’s the part where you say “Amen!” or “Wow! She’s really become a religious nut!”  Either way I hope that those who believe in Jesus will have their faith encouraged and those who don’t will read about him to find out why so many people do profess faith in him.

The result of this faith: I am completely at peace, even though some days my mother forgets my name. I have no fear of death, even though I was there when death came for my father-in-law. I rejoice in trials and suffering because I’ve watched God use those very things to draw my mother-in-law, sister-in-law, father, and husband closer to Him. I have a great Hope and it’s not of my own making! God loves me, and because he decided to love me first, I have the ability to love him back. I pray in 2011 we’ll all grow closer to our Creator!

God Bless You!

Maria

(click on photo to enlarge)