Although most of us look forward to a joyful holiday season, it can be a time where many experience sorrow, loneliness, despair, and hopelessness.
Losses through natural disasters, deaths, unemployment, and a range of heartbreaking situations can make the holidays extremely difficult.
During these challenging times, we can turn to God’s Word for comfort. As “the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles,” He understands. (2 Corinthians 1:3-4).
Here are 10 ways God’s Word offers you comfort through the holidays.
All the chatter around the world can be overwhelming and confusing. Ecclesiastes 1:18 states, “For with much wisdom comes much sorrow; the more knowledge, the more grief.”
If you’re feeling an overload of knowledge communicated through the Internet, social media, and airwaves, God offers you stability in the midst of an unstable world. As James 3:17 states, “the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere.”
God’s Word confirms that He understands your frailties and weaknesses. Psalm 103:14 states “He knows how you are formed.”
So if you’re struggling in life, thinking God is pointing fingers at you, take solace in knowing He understands how you are made better than you do.
Find relief in having a high priest who is able to empathize with your weaknesses (Hebrews 4:15).
If the holidays cause you to focus on mistakes you’ve made, receive comfort in knowing that God’s mercies are new every morning. Each day is a new beginning with Him.
Let Lamentations 3:22-23 encourage you that, “Because of the Lord’s great love you are not consumed, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning.”
If you struggle with believing God loves you, reflect on how “God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).
Scripture affirms how in the history of the world, not one person has ever been unloved by God. Before you could chose to love God, He loved you (1 John 4:19).
Find consolation in knowing you are loved.
With the more than 7.5 billion people in the world, it’s easy to feel lost in the crowd. If you’re feeling obscure in life, like no one notices or cares, Scriptures describes how God looks down from Heaven and sees all who are seeking Him (Psalm 53:2).
Likewise Psalm 147:11 states “the Lord values those who fear Him, those who put their hope in His faithful love.”
So in times of feeling forgotten or like you have no value or worth in life, remember the words in Matthew 6:26, “Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?”
Be reassured your life has value.
Feeling alone? If so, you aren’t alone. Ever advancing technology offers a false promise of becoming more connected, while fostering increasing isolation.
Still God has not left you alone. Before He left earth, Jesus thought of you and asked the Father to send a Comforter, the Holy Spirit, to come and live with you forever (John 14:16). As well Hebrews 13:5 reassures that God will never leave or forsake you.
Even if family members pass away, God promises to always be with you, saying “I will not leave you as orphans” (John 13:18). You have Jesus’ word.
World events and natural disasters can cause anxious and fearful feelings in not knowing what catastrophe might occur next.
Yet God encourages you in John 14:1 to “not let your heart be troubled.”
If you’re staying up nights wondering what destruction might happen next in the world, Proverbs 19:23 directs you to trust God. By doing so, you’ll rest contently, untouched by trouble.
Jesus assures in John 14:27 that, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”
Often life can seem very different than one has dreamed or imagined it would be. If your experiences have you feeling disappointed or hopeless about your future, know that nothing is too difficult for God (Jeremiah 32:27). He is able to work all things together for your good (Romans 8:28).
If life has brought you unexpected bumps and detours, be encouraged at the possibilities ahead. Even if others have interfered in your life for the worst, look over the story of Joseph. Take note of how he could have believed his life was over when his brothers sold him into slavery, or later when he was thrown into prison as an innocent man (Genesis 37:39).
Amazingly even the evil things people might have done to you, like Joseph experienced, can be worked together for good in your life (Genesis 50:20).
If you’re in despair over a child who has lost his or her way, take cheer in knowing what Scripture says about the situation.
God’s Word promises that if you train your children in His ways, even when they are old they will not turn from it (Proverbs 22:6).
Take consolation in knowing the Word of God is still at work in your child’s heart.
If the last year, or life overall, has left you thinking God let you down or didn’t care what you were going through, turn to His Word. You’ll find comfort in knowing that nothing can separate you from God’s love.
“For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 8:38-39).
As you experience God’s comfort through the holidays, my prayer is you’ll reach out and extend the consolation you find in His Word to those around you, comforting those in any trouble with the comfort you receive from God” (2 Corinthians 1:4).
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Lynette Kittle is married with four daughters. She enjoys writing about faith, marriage, parenting, relationships, and life. Her writing has been published by Focus on the Family, Decision, Today’s Christian Woman, kirkcameron.com, Ungrind.org, and more. She has a M.A. in Communication from Regent University and serves as associate producer for Soul Check TV.