Christmas because…Easter

I hope you all had a wonderfully blessed Christmas celebration with family and friends. As you read this, our four children, their spouses, and our ten grandchildren (with two precious babies on the way for an even dozen next year!) are all gathering at our oldest daughter’s house for a week of fun and chaos. Nineteen under one roof! Because we have several teachers in our family, it has worked best most years for us to celebrate together the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day. It leaves the actual holiday free for our married kids to be with their in-laws, and it means that we are usually all together to celebrate Ken’s late December birthday. I’ve always said that I don’t care when we celebrate, as long as we are all together.

Each year, I like to share this artwork that my talented husband created many years ago. It is a sobering, yet glorious reminder of the profound REASON for Christmas. As hard as it may be for us to understand with human minds, Easter was the plan of our omniscient God all along. God—who knew from the beginning that His creation would sin and would need a Redeemer—sent His son, Jesus, into the world—”the Lamb who was slain from the creation of the world” (Revelation 13:8 NIV). He came as a baby, yes, but ultimately, Jesus came to become the only sacrifice that could save us from ourselves. And only because “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14), can we find forgiveness of our sins and the incredible, unspeakably blessed gift of eternal life.

As we head into a new year, I pray that you know this amazing Gift from God—His son, Jesus Christ—in a personal and redemptive way. God has made it so simple to accept His gift of new life that even a child can invite Jesus into his or her heart with a simple prayer: “God, thank you for the gift of salvation through Jesus. I repent of my sins and desire to follow you and the truth of your word, the Bible, from this day forward.” If you’ve never asked Jesus to come into your heart and give you new life, won’t you do that today? And if you have made that life-giving decision to follow Christ, I hope you’ll reflect on the profound implications of that decision and then share Jesus with someone who doesn’t yet know Him.

May these last few days of 2021 lead you into a 2022 overflowing with God’s blessings and grace.

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Deborah Raney

DEBORAH RANEY's first novel, A Vow to Cherish, inspired the World Wide Pictures film of the same title and launched Deb’s writing career. Forty books later, she's still creating stories that touch hearts and lives. Her novels have won RWA's RITA Award, the ACFW Carol Award, the National Readers Choice Award, and the HOLT Medallion. She is also a three-time Christy Award finalist. Deb is on faculty for several national writers’ conferences and served on the executive board of the 2,500-member American Christian Fiction Writers organization for 18 years before retiring in 2022. She is a recent transplant to Missouri, having moved with her husband, Ken Raney, from their native Kansas to be closer to kids and grandkids. They love road trips, e-biking, Friday garage sale dates, and breakfast on the screened porch overlooking their wooded backyard.

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