Isaiah 7:14 “Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son and will call him Immanuel (which means ‘God is with us’).”

GOD IS WITH US.

And this makes all the difference.

– It has made a difference in Ed and Rosy’s lives. They are a couple that we do marriage mentoring with and yesterday as we sat with them we observed that for the first time in months they sat together and held hands as they shared with us how they’ve worked through some long standing problems in their relationship. God is with them and it makes all the difference.

– He is making a difference in the life of our friend D. He has head knowledge about God, but is searching for Him in a new way, asking Josh all kinds of hard questions and recently has asked Josh to model for him what it means to follow Christ. God is with D, and we are looking forward to what He will do with a life turned over to Him.

– As we interact with a culture that has different priorities and time frames, it makes all the difference to remember that a powerful, grace-filled GOD is WITH US! Where we are impatient, He is patient, where we prioritize tasks, He emphasizes love, when we are anxious, His peace and presence calms us down.

We are grateful to know this God who sent His Son to be Immanuel in the flesh, God WITH us. Our prayer this Advent Season is that we would be more and more impacted by His presence and that we would boldly and graciously share this glorious truth with those around us.