With two obtrusive pumps attached to his body and strict doctors’ orders to remain in isolation, Danny Hannan went to church anyway. He brought a retractable chair for tailgating up to the side of the church and sat there all morning one Sunday. home. It was the closest he could get to his church family, but for him, it was enough.

My transition into motherhood was hard, and not for the normal newborn reasons. I expected to be tired, and I expected to not know what I was doing. The hard part was what was going on inside my head.

“The kind of mother I think you really want to be is a Mother of Repair. This kind of mom is focused on reconciliation. This kind of mom does not shy away from the hard stuff. She rises and meets the mess head-on. She understands that God is in control and that her role isn’t to fix everything and make it all better but to just be there with truth in her words and grace in her hugs. Children, kids, teenagers, young adults.... they are all going to mess up, often in very big ways. During life’s darkest moments, children don’t need a mom who dances in the kitchen. They need a mother of repair.

I hope that my testimony encourages parents who have done everything they could to surround their kids and grow them up in the truth of the gospel. I’m sure to my parents my story was looking a little bleak, but their efforts had a huge impact in the way I came to submit my life to Christ.

You are weary. But you too can take hold and claim that thrill of hope. Hope in God’s great rescue plan for His weary children. We get a glimpse of this gift at Christmas; in this Silent and Holy Night.