Author: Mariane Doktor (Page 10 of 14)

Christmas is arriving in a few days. Have you room for Christ this Christmas? Is there room for Christ in your heart?  I’m honored to host a guest post by Brenda McGraw, author of Joy Beyond, 28 days to finding joy Beyond the clutter of life. Brenda Mcgraw’s shares her testimony about how Jesus never stopped knocking on the door to her heart.  Merry Christmas!

At the young age of thirteen, when I thought I knew everything, I remember rejecting the Savior of the world. In my mind I would make fun of people whom I considered Jesus freaks, and I sure didn’t want to be one. I thought I was having too much fun living the party life. My fun led to a long road that ended in failure. I didn’t make room in my heart and my heart led me astray.

The beautiful words of a Christmas song we sing every year go like this:

“Joy to the world! The Lord is come
Let earth receive her King!
Let every heart prepare Him room
And heaven and nature sing

Joy to the world! The Savior reigns
Let men their songs employ
While fields and floods
Rocks, hills and plains
Repeat the sounding joy

He rules the world with truth and grace
And makes the nations prove
The glories of His righteousness
And wonders of his love.”

Many times we just skim the words and don’t really read them. But this is how I see it:

One verse says, “Let every heart prepare Him room.”

At thirteen I didn’t prepare God room; I didn’t believe in the empty tomb.

At sixteen Jesus was not in the hidden holes of my heart; He waited patiently for me to get smart.

When I was nineteen and getting married, my heart was focused on loving a man; no relationship with the right man, Jesus, began.

When I turned twenty-four, after all the years of no spiritual focus, came along the devastating breast cancer diagnosis.

Did I prepare room then?

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