Jeanne Dennis here. Since June, I’ve been a member of the CAN Board. Even though you haven't heard from me personally for several months, I post the CAN book releases on this blog every Tuesday and help keep the CAN website up to date. 

During this holy season, I wanted to touch base with you again and express what’s in my heart. We live in a time of personal, political, and financial uncertainty. Countless people now struggle with poor health or finances; suffer the loss of loved ones, jobs, or homes; or deal with other crises. Pain and loss often feel more acute during this traditional time of joy, hope, and peace.

People need our words as writers and speakers now more than ever. So even if the paragraph above describes our lives, let’s make this Christmastime a season of trust – trust in the One who knows all things perfectly, does all things well, and makes all things beautiful in His time.

Trusting God requires intimacy with Him so that we can hear His voice. It necessitates our faith in His sovereign wisdom and unfailing love and should result in our eager and immediate obedience to his will, even when it doesn’t seem to make sense. Trusting God acknowledges that God is God – awesome, fearsome, all-powerful – and not just a big buddy in the sky.

This year I received firsthand experience in trusting the Lord as I prepared for and took a trip to a third-world country. It amazed me how my moment-by-moment trust and obedience made the Scriptures come alive. It became reality to me that earth is not our real home and what happens here comprises only a miniscule sliver of eternity. It inspired me to seek greater and deeper communion with my Lord here on earth and made me long for heaven as never before.

“Trust and obey,” the old hymn admonishes us, and I have found that this truly is the best way to “be happy in Jesus.” As we minister to the needs of others this season, let’s do it from the strength of deeper intimacy with our Creator and Savior, trusting that He will work all things together for good and make those who love Him more and more like His perfect Son, whose birth we celebrate.

© 2009 Jeanne Gowen Dennis, author of Running Barefoot on Holy Ground: Childlike Intimacy with God, from Kregel Publications.