True meaning of Christmas-from Sasha’s Hope archive

I don’t know how many of y’all are looking forward to the holidays. I love Thanksgiving and Christmas! My favorite holiday is Christmas! I love spending time thinking about what I am going to give to my family and friends. I have so much joy giving gifts to my family and seeing them opening their presents. I love baking Christmas goodies (and eating them too!), being with family, playing games, hanging the Christmas lights and decorations, going to Christmas Eve service, reading the Christmas story and opening gifts and celebrating the birth of Jesus! 

Now I want to take you back in my childhood. Christmas was really sad for me because I did not have anyone to enjoy the most wonderful day of Jesus’ birth. I remember we were given gifts at the orphanage but nothing exciting… school stuff which no child gets excited about. Sometimes the orphanage would receive gift boxes from people who were willing to give us toys and warm clothes, but we never got them because the people who worked in the orphanage took it all for their own kids. I can’t ever remember Christmas as a happy time of year for me or the other kids. I just remember how we felt worthless and that we are never going to be loved by family. We felt cold, hungry, and we were abused physically and emotionally hurt. I remember crying out to God and telling him all I wanted was a family. I wanted someone to eat with and enjoy conversations with and laugh with and wanting a kiss goodnight. 

I am so thankful for the gift God gave! My first Christmas with my new family was so wonderful. I remember shopping with mom, skipping around and telling mom I am so thankful I have a family to shop for. Mom gave me money to shop for them. I remember me running downstairs waiting for my slow poke brothers to wake up and open gifts. I had so much joy seeing them opening gifts and my dog Blitz being covered up with wrapping paper because he was too lazy to move. I will never forget the peace I had in my heart. It was my first time ever loving Christmas and the happy memories I was building. 

I write this to you because I want you to remember orphans, especially around Christmas. They are feeling the same things I did. But I want you to remember others who have lost loved ones and others who are walking through hard times. So I just want you to be in prayer for those who don’t have the things we do and be in prayer for missionaries who are sharing the story of Jesus. Pray that the hearts of kids would be opened. I know for lots of people holidays can be very sad and hard. I am sorry if you are one of those people. I am so happy for those who always had happy memories, not everyone gets that. 

Like I said let’s pray for those people and remember them and show them what Christmas is about. Let’s be thankful for the gift of Jesus because we all have hope and great things that God planned for our lives. As James 1:17 says, “Every good gift and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.”

Hope y’all have wonderful holidays and feel the unconditional love of Jesus Christ! Happy holidays!