Editor's Note: Christmas is a joyous and fun time for many of us. For others, however, the stress of shopping, the collision of family tensions, and the resurrection of old painful memories make it a time of let down and despair. Randy's reminder of God's constant care, proved true in the manger and the cross, can help us move past the let downs and find hope and healing in him.

    Five year old Teresa Cook and her two older sisters stood by the truck in the downtown shopping district waiting for their mother to return from shopping. She didn’t return! Then they noticed a note under the windshield wiper. The note read: “Go on home, I’m not coming back!”

    What would you do? You are five years old and you've just been read a note from your mother: “I’m not coming back!”

“Go on home, I’m not coming back!”

    It deeply imprinted Teresa especially about the issue of trust. She was told as a child that she could choose to be like her mother or she could choose to be not like her mother. But Teresa said, “But no one told me how to trust again.” She emphasized that her ordeal was a long time school in learning how to trust again.

    Take heart in her encouraging words. “With patience and understanding, I have learned to place all my trust in him. I have total confidence that he will never let me down. Now I am able to deal with the disappointments of people in whom I chose to place trust.”

    What about you? Have you recovered from being let down? God is the one in whom you can place your total trust because he does not lie and he cares deeply for you. If there is any message in the story of Jesus’ birth, it is that God is faithful, he cares for you, and he will not abandon or forsake you. In fact, he cares so much, he abandoned heaven to come to earth in Jesus so you could be a part of his family. The cross and the manger are God’s notes to us that he will move heaven and earth to not let us down.

For Randy's encouraging booklet about God's constant care, call 1 (800) 759-3300 or email herald@abilene.com attn: Randy Becton and ask for the free booklet, Hear My Cry Oh Lord.

HEARTLIGHT(R) Magazine is a ministry of loving Christians and the Westover Hills church of Christ.
Edited by Phil Ware and Paul Lee.
Article copyright © 1996-97, Randy Becton. Used by permission.
Design copyright © 1996-97, Heartlight, Inc., 8332 Mesa Drive, Austin, TX 78759.
May be reprinted and reused for non-commercial purposes only if copyright credits are appropriately displayed.
HEARTLIGHT and the flared heart design are service marks of Heartlight, Inc.