Look at these beautiful deer we saw yesterday as we were coming home from a New Year’s vacation at my parents’ mountain cabin. It’s a momma dear and her baby. I love seeing wildlife, as they bear witness of a Creator, Jesus Christ. We have had a beautiful time of Christmas celebrating His birth and a wonderful week between Christmas and New Year’s. (Despite some HUGE negative feelings that arose inside of me on Christmas Day. That’s a subject for another time.) On Thursday I took the kids to my parents’ cabin for a weekend of sledding (not for me with my old bones), hygge-ness, and board games.(I cover hygge-ness here.) I had a wonderful time with lots of extended family. I loved playing games with my parents, children, husband, nieces and nephews. I loved seeing my grandnieces and grandnephews toddle about. The only thing wrong was that two sons and my married daughter, her husband, and my grandbabies weren’t there. I was thrilled that my oldest child and his girlfriend could be there, having flown in from TX.

I’m not ready to give up Christmas around here. I just might continue sharing some Christmas-y things over the next while.

First, the video below. The image above comes from the video. It teaches you about the sacred astronomy involved in the birth of Jesus. It’s more than just a new star shining at His birth. Truly all things bear witness of Jesus Christ and His love for us.

Watching the above video stirred inside me tremendous feelings of love and gratitude to God. I’m just so full of awe and gratitude that He aligns signs in the heavens and the earth so perfectly. He creates endless, interwoven patterns for us to enjoy. He creates miracles. Not just back then, with the birth of Jesus, orchestrated according to multiple signs in the heavens, but continuing onward. He continues with signs and wonders, with Jesus working on each of us, for Jesus to change our hearts and bring us back home to Heavenly Father as righteous creatures, able to live with Father again.

This story that I read here spoke truth to me as well. I love that the author says that we are each part of “the next great miracle” that God is creating. I absolutely loved it. The story is about how this woman moved from SLC Utah to Montana so her husband could take a border patrol job at the US-Canadian border. She was used to being busy making a lot of Christmas music every fall and early winter as a violin teacher. She and her students put on a lot of concerts together. For the past 15 years or so she had held a benefit concert to earn money and food for a homeless shelter. She wanted to do one in Montana. She started calling around to get people to help. No one would agree, until someone told her to call a woman named “Connie” to get help. So she did.

Connie was the first person to match her enthusiasm. So they worked together and put together a 2 1/2 hour program with 40 musicians. Afterwards, the writer says (quoting from the story), 

“People talked about the concert for months afterward with a feeling of community pride. Everyone had known that their neighbors and friends had talents, but no one had ever seen those talents presented in one place at the same time. Many commented on how good it felt to have the different churches come together for an event, and others said it set the tone for the rest of the Christmas season. However, the most common sentiment was simply that it made people ‘feel good inside.’

“Last December we held our second annual Community Christmas Concert and raised $2,000 for the local ministerial association’s charitable work. The number of participants and the amount of community and ecclesiastical involvement continued to grow. The concert seems to be on its way to becoming a tradition in our area—something everyone looks forward to. And still, the biggest reason people say they attend is because of the feeling that is present.

“My testimony is that Heavenly Father wants our light and His light to shine. He will give us promptings. When we follow those promptings and have faith to move forward—even when it is uncomfortable—He will work His miracles through us. He is always preparing us for the next miracle. I realize now that my prior musical experiences and accomplishments had simply been preparation for that moment when everyone in our community sang ‘Silent Night’ together.

“How grateful I am for a loving Heavenly Father who sees the whole picture and knows where we fit in, where we can contribute, and how we can help bless others.” (See Melanie Massey Hoggan’s article here.)

I just love that line, “He is always preparing us for the next miracle.”

It’s very true, that is exactly how I feel. Hence we always want to be improving our talents, our skills, our knowledge, and our wisdom, so we can be ready to be instruments in His hands to be involved in God’s next great miracle. I always want to follow those little whisperings of the Holy Spirit so I can be part of His next great miracle.

I had my own little post-Christmas miracle just this past Monday. After we got off the mountain in my father’s ATV and then his 4WD truck, just leaving the parking lot at the base of the mountain where we had parked our cars proved difficult. It had snowed so much, every day over the weekend, that our cars spun wheels, getting over a teeny hill to get to the road connecting to the parking lot. So our three cars in a line were stuck. A Good Samaritan came and helped us get two out of the three cars out of the parking lot onto the road. My car was more difficult. We called AAA but the dispatcher couldn’t even get a tow truck to come since all the tow truck drivers were all celebrating New Year’s Day. (So much for 24/7 emergency roadside assistance. There’s a caveat for you AAA members: you can get emergency help unless you are out in the boonies and it’s New Year’s Day, being observed on a Monday).

Who should appear, after we had worked, dug, pushed and pulled and waited inside semi-warm cars for three hours, but another wonderful Good Samaritan. This time it was someone I already knew! I’ve actually blogged about him and heard him speak many times. He attached his tow strap to his Jeep and got us out sooner than we could say Saint Nicholas. It was amazing! I feel so blessed! One of my favorite videos of him is below. Who was this rescuer? It was Rod Meldrum, the Book of Mormon guy. Why was he able to pull us out using a smaller car, and the same kind of tow strap, when the other guy couldn’t? I believe it’s because he travels with angelic help.

We were able to start driving and get out of the canyon before it got dark. I’m feeling so blessed. I even got to stop at a thrift store on the way home, something I’ve missed for three weeks because of all my holiday work. We came home, shoveled the driveway, ate dinner, watched a Christmas movie, and basked in the light and love of Christ. It was the perfect ending for a week of holiday-ing.