They sat in church, side by side, my friend and her husband. Nothing remarkable in that, you might say. But you would be wrong. This was a miracle fifty-two years in the making. Some mountains are not so easily moved. However, the faith that had so long eluded my friend’s husband, has been her firm foundation these many years. I dare to say, she has more than a mustard seed of faith, and it has sustained her these many years.

For fifty-two years she has faithfully prayed for her husband while attending church alone. She never lost her faith and she never gave up hope that he would find his. I could not believe my eyes when I saw them together, singing, worshiping, praying along with the rest of us. My heart is overjoyed for my friend. Her prayer, for the deepest desire of her heart, has been answered! A once immovable mountain has been moved because with God all things are possible.

She never gave up hope. She never gave up on her husband, just like God never gives up on me or on you, dear readers. God moved mountains and made a way for us to know Him when He sent Jesus to us that first Christmas. The people of Israel had waited so long that they may have given up hope and stopped looking for their promised Messiah. But God said,

“I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland.” (Isaiah 43:19)

God had a plan all along. He made a way where there had been no way, He moved mountains and opened the door to relationship with Him once again when He became flesh and made His dwelling among us. Then we saw His glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. He did all this through Jesus.

“Jesus answered, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” (John 14:6) We are told more about this “way” in Hebrews 10:19-23, where we read,

“Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, His body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for He who promised is faithful.”

Jesus is that new and living way that God gave to us, the first gift of Christmas. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son” – God’s love found a way, God’s love made a way, God’s love is the way back to Him. The mountain moving miracle of Advent has come. God moved heaven and earth to enter into our lives here on earth. He did it once and He has promised to do it again. The hope of the first Advent has been realized. The hope of the second Advent remains as an anchor for our souls. (Hebrews 6:19)

Sometimes I fear that the mountains in my life may never be moved. There seems to be no way that I can see – probably because those mountains are blocking my view. But those mountains in my life are not blocking God’s view at all. He will move them when the time is right. My hope is in Him. I think of my friend’s steadfast faith, faithfully praying and hoping for fifty-two years. Others would have given up but she didn’t. Her hope is in God and He moved the mountains standing in the way of her husband’s faith. He made a way for her husband just as He makes a way for each one of us to come to Him.

The hope of Advent – our miracle working, mountain moving God. He came! He is coming again! Let us not lose hope. Mountains will again be moved!

“In the desert prepare the way for the Lord, make straight in the wilderness a highway for our God. Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain. And the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all mankind together will see it. For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.” (Isaiah 40:3-5)

sincerely, Grace Day