Hello, my name is Sochiel Dixon.

I'll be sharing a sweet memory in today's encouragement from our daily bread,

the light of hope.

My mother's shiny red cross should have been hanging next to her bed at the cancer care center,

and I should have been preparing for holiday visits between her scheduled treatments.

All I wanted for Christmas was another day with my mom.

Instead, I was home, hanging her cross on a fake tree.

When my son Xavier plugged in the lights, I whispered, thank you.

He said, you're welcome.

My son didn't know I was thanking God for using the flickering bulbs to turn my eyes toward the ever-enduring light of hope.

Jesus.

The writer of Psalm 42 expressed his raw emotions to God.

He acknowledged his downcast and disturbed soul before encouraging readers with these words,

Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.

Though he was overcome with waves of sorrow and suffering,

the psalmist's hope shone through the remembrance of God's

past faithfulness. He ended by questioning his doubts and affirming the resilience of his

refined faith, asking, why my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me?

Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior, and my God.

For many of us, the Christmas season stirs up both joy and sorrow.

Thankfully, even these mixed emotions can be reconciled and redeemed

through the promise of the true light of hope, Jesus.

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