“‘For the mountains may depart and the hills be removed, but my steadfast love shall not depart from you, and my covenant of peace shall not be removed,’ says the Lord, who has compassion on you.” –Isaiah 54:10 (ESV)

It has been quite a year. Our society has experienced extreme levels of uncertainty, division and anger. Not to mention it just seems like everything has an added layer of difficulty to it.

Even long-term traditions like returning to school were thrown into upheaval. This may have left you like us – just plain tired. But God’s word holds incredible promises to get us through times like this and any other difficult times we may face in the future.

God’s steadfast love, no matter what happens, never leaves us, and the promises he has given us will never be broken. This powerful word encourages us to not only persevere in difficult times, but to actually go out and live our faith more fervently.

Because just as God’s steadfast love never leaves us, his greatest example of love, sending his son Jesus, stands as a constant reminder that regardless of how difficult it may be, what it may cost us, how much we may disagree with someone or how someone may have hurt us, we must fiercely love others.

That is really what Christmas is all about. God sent Jesus to this Earth, and even though he was betrayed, mocked, beaten and crucified, he never stopped loving and forgiving. He came close to people in their sin, hurt and mess to show them the love of God. We must do the same. We must meet people where they are and love them in their mess, even if they do not show love in return.

So in this season, find encouragement and rejuvenation. Yes, things may be hard. But regardless of how difficult things are, God’s love is greater, and the example we have in Jesus gives us hope we can show the same great love to others that he did.

Written by Buck and Stephanie Baskin for the 2020 Buckner Advent Guide. Buckner and Stephanie have been married 11 years and have been foster parents with Buckner for nine years. They have three children, two who were adopted. Buck works at Sunnyvale Independent School District and Stephanie is a licensed master social worker, who also does volunteer crisis counseling at the Pregnancy Resource Center in Mesquite, Texas.

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