As I look back, I must admit I had a very blessed, some may even say spoiled, childhood. I remember waking up on Christmas morning to actual mountains of gifts “Santa brought,” which my brother and I knew full and well at an early age were from my parents. I remember my parents giving us the big book of toys from Toys R Us and circling what I wanted for Christmas and getting it on Christmas morning. Although for some reason in all the pictures from Christmas morning I am not smiling, go figure.

Why am I reminiscing about my childhood Christmas memories with you? Well, it dawned on me these past couple of days that I had lost the innocence that came from circling a toy in the Toys R Us ad and knowing I’d get it. Spoiler alert, Santa isn’t real but God is. If you’re anything like me, the idea of asking and not getting what you asked for may feel like rejection. This notion can’t be farther from the truth. The Word of God says the opposite.

When I asked for a toy for Christmas I didn’t look at the price tag. I just asked because I knew that my resource hadn’t failed me yet so why would they start? God hasn’t failed me yet, so why don’t I ask with that same naïveté?

Life has a way of stealing that naïveté, that childlike faith. What’s on your list this Christmas? What’s on your list for 2019? Not the “stuff” you want but the real things you’re scared to give to Him and know that “…my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus” (Philippians‬ ‭4:19‬.) It requires faith and nothing else to ask. I tend to think that in order to ask and get what I am asking for I have to come with a proposal as to why I should get it. But my God doesn’t need explanations. He just needs me to show him I trust Him and nobody else to meet my needs. Jesus explains it best when he says: “If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” Luke‬ ‭11:13‬.

Let me caution you from reading this and allowing your mind to instantaneously think of your bank account or your bills, although that He will also take care of those. I am referring to those emotional and spiritual aspects of our lives we hold on to thinking only we can handle. I challenge you and myself to as the song says to start “making a list, and checking it twice” and just present it to God. Let us give him the raw, and unedited version of the list, knowing that He’s our heavenly Father and He’s got it.

Merry Christmas,

Grace