Topics:<\/b> Advent; Christmas; Death; Grief; Light; Loneliness; Loss; Mourning; Peace; Redemption<\/p>\n
References:<\/b> Matthew 4:16; John 8:12<\/p>\n
It looked like Stella Thornhope would be alone at Christmas. Her husband had died of cancer a few months before. Now she was snowed in. She decided not to bother with decorating the house.<\/p>\n
Late that afternoon, the doorbell rang. It was a delivery boy with a box. He asked her to sign for the package. After she did, she asked, \u201cWhat\u2019s in the box?\u201d The young man opened the box. Inside was a little puppy, a golden Labrador retriever. The delivery boy picked up the squirming pup and said, \u201cThis is for you, ma\u2019am. He\u2019s six weeks old, completely housebroken.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWho sent this?\u201d Thornhope asked.<\/p>\n
The young man set the animal down and handed her an envelope and said, \u201cIt\u2019s all explained here, ma\u2019am. The dog was bought last July while its mother was still pregnant. It was meant to be a Christmas gift to you.\u201d The young man then handed her a book, How to Care for Your Labrador Retriever.<\/i><\/p>\n
She again asked, \u201cWho sent this puppy?\u201d<\/p>\n
As the young man turned to leave, he said, \u201cYour husband, ma\u2019am. Merry Christmas.\u201d<\/p>\n
She opened the letter from her husband. He had written it three weeks before he died and left it with the kennel owners to be delivered with the puppy at Christmas. Her husband admonished her to be strong and said he was waiting for the day when she would join him. He had sent her this young animal to keep her company until then.<\/p>\n
She picked up the golden furry ball and held it to her neck. Then she looked out the window at the lights that outlined the neighbor\u2019s house. Suddenly she felt the most amazing sensation of peace. Her heart felt a wonder greater than the grief and loneliness.<\/p>\n
\u201cLittle fella,\u201d she said to the dog, \u201cIt\u2019s just you and me. But you know what? There\u2019s a box down in the basement that\u2019s got a little Christmas tree in it and some decorations and some lights that are going to impress you. And there\u2019s a manger scene down there. Let\u2019s go get it.\u201d<\/p>\n
God has a way of sending signals to remind us that life is stronger than death, and light more powerful than darkness. Open the Book and reach for the joy.<\/p>\n
\u2014Robert Russell, \u201cJesus Came to Be the Light,\u201d Preaching Today Audio, no. 195<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Topics: Advent; Christmas; Death; Grief; Light; Loneliness; Loss; Mourning; Peace; Redemption References: Matthew 4:16; John 8:12 It looked like Stella Thornhope would be alone at Christmas. Her husband had died of cancer a few months before. Now she was snowed in. She decided not to bother with decorating the house. Late that afternoon, the doorbell … Continue reading “RETRIEVING
\n THE JOY”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6231","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6231","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6231"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6231\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6231"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6231"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6231"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}