Getting seven kids out the door for school is not an easy task. Breakfast and lunches need to be made. Scripture and prayer go into our minds and hearts and then there is the clothes, backpacks and snacks. We double check folders to make sure everything is signed and that homework was indeed done. This is a team effort and everyone has a part to play. One of the things I do is help with getting hair fixed. Some do their own, but some do not and often the older ones need just a bit of help getting it just right. I am happy to help. It is a time to encourage, pray and physically touch their precious heads before they head out.

When I was fixing one little boys hair this morning, he said the most unusual thing. He told me, “Make room, make room in your heart. Sometimes to make room in your heart, you have to go to the hospital.” The conversation then turned to something else and I was left speechless. Just minutes before I had been spending time praying, reading my Bible and listening. I had been looking back over this past year and then over the last nine. His words perfectly described this past year in the most unique way. Allow me to explain.

It has taken years of the Lord gently removing from me that which does not look like Him. Pride was alive and well for starters. Then there was bitterness and anger, not very attractive. Events broke me in the best way and added to this emptying. High places, idols were worshipped and had to be taken down. God will not share His glory. Then this past year, after what has felt like being empty, there were some wounds that I honestly thought had turned to scars. Beth Moore recently said that scars do not hurt anymore, but wounds do. We all have scars, but some of us are walking around with wounds too. I had a few of my own. This has been a year of surrendering these wounds. The picture that has often come to mind during this process is lying flat and letting the Lord examine each one. He then bandages them up and once they are healed, the bandage comes off. Only a scar remains and it is no longer painful. Memories may remain, but they no longer carry anger, bitterness, unforgiveness and cause us to withhold love.

When my sweet boy said those words I just was stunned. With the empty and the healing there is a life that is surrendered and available for the Lord to completely fill. His Holy Spirit has been in me since I accepted Christ, but there remained some of my old self that took up space and I acted out of this. Now He takes up every inch and I can honestly say there is nothing more freeing. Read with me, “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.” (2 Corinthians 3:17). Do you want to have the best Christmas ever? Then allow the Lord to fill you completely with His Holy Spirit. It is the best gift you can ever receive and give to your family and friends. May this be a Christmas of freedom for each and everyone of us!