In the darkness of grief and suffering, Christmas is our promise of Light. Jesus—the Dawn from on High—has come to redeem and restore all things.

The truth we celebrate at Christmas—that Christ has come to be Immanuel, “God with us”—is the truth that also anchors us through our deepest valleys.

The psalmists guide us in meshing both deep lament and heartfelt thanksgiving to God, reminding us that, at all times, “he has dealt bountifully with us.”

God’s gifts of grace are often hidden in the most unexpected places—even amidst our suffering and sorrows.

As God calls us to shed our self-reliance in life and motherhood—depending daily on his grace instead—we can look ahead with hope to his greater purposes for us.

The simple truths of the gospel are for our children and us—and they bring us hope on our hardest days.

One of the greatest comforts we can offer a suffering friend is coming alongside her to lament and point her heart to Christ.

God gives us stories of his faithfulness to strengthen our faith and sustain us in hard times.

Christian mothering can too easily become a set of should's and how to's. But the greatest gift we can give our children is pursuing and enjoying Christ himself.

Through Christ, God gives us the peace, love, and joy we need to celebrate the holidays with the ones we love, even when loving them isn’t easy.

In October 2010, my husband and I sat on the floor in our boys’ bedroom as they ran around us in a pre-bedtime frenzy. Surrounded by bunk beds, toys, and trains, we told our young sons I had cancer.

Angiosarcoma has a five-year survival rate of 30%. My boys were six and four, and their little sister was 18 months old. I closed my tear-filled eyes and started begging the Lord to give us those five years. I wasn’t bold enough to ask for more. 

My cancer diagnosis shattered my illusion of having control over mine or my children’s lives. I knew my children would face suffering, but I assumed I would be the one to comfort them, pray for them, and guide them through the hardships. I couldn’t imagine not being there as they grieved.

Mothering through cancer was never easy. I hated missing school programs, awards ceremonies, tee-ball games, birthdays, and holidays. I hated letting others care for my family while I fought for my life in another state. I hated the harshness of our present circumstances and the uncertainty in our future.

But God was always at work.

I learned to rest in his presence with us through the hard times. When I wasn’t able to trust his plans, he poured out his peace. When our needs were extreme, so was his provision through the body of Christ. When I wondered how my children would be impacted, he showed us how he was filling them with his strength.

I revisited the familiar promises of God’s word, seeing them through the new lens of a cancer diagnosis. Did I believe that God loved my children with an everlasting love and would continue his faithfulness to them? Did I have confidence that he would work all things together for good, even if his plans involved suffering and heartache?

Because it all comes down to this: Is God enough?

I still struggle to pray, ‘Thy will be done.’ But I’m thankful that I can plead the righteousness of the One who prayed those words with perfect trust. As he grows my faith, I am able to more wholeheartedly believe he is truly sufficient.