Praying and Waiting for Christmas: A 7 Day Advent DevotionalSample

The Christ Candle

Christmas is filled with so many activities that I sometimes worry that the real meaning will be lost beneath the trappings. We read about shepherds, wise men, and a baby in a manger, but perhaps we should also read the verse that reveals the heart of this day: “For the Son of Man came to seek and save those who are lost” (Luke 19:10).

Jesus is the Good Shepherd who never stops searching for His one lost sheep. “And when he has found it, he will joyfully carry it home on his shoulders. When he arrives, he will call together his friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep’” (Luke 15:5-6).

I had a real-life “lost sheep” experience on a bicycle ride with my husband. Ten miles from home, we heard a woman screaming for help. Another couple, running to her aid, flagged us down.

“Can you help? This mother has lost her little boy.”

She’d been doing laundry while her two-year-old son watched TV, and when she returned, he’d disappeared. The door was unlocked, and she feared he’d wandered outside.

We split up to search. I headed into the woods, scouring the underbrush, praying for God’s help. When I circled back to check with the others, the little boy was still lost. His mother was distraught.

I understood her anguish. At some point in their childhoods, each of my three children had temporarily disappeared. They were all found, but I’ll never forget my heart-stopping terror. The world that swallows your child seems so huge; your child, so small.

That morning, I’d prayed for three unsaved family members who’d hurt me badly. My attitude wasn’t what it should be. But as my heart broke for that mother, I glimpsed God’s heart, and the grief He must feel. “My people have been lost sheep. . . They have lost their way and can’t remember how to get back to the sheepfold” (Jeremiah 50:6).

I searched again, running faster, calling the boy’s name. And I wondered—might God want me to search this fervently for His lost children?

With no luck, I rejoined the others. We needed to call the police. But first, the mother searched the house again. She found her son, asleep beneath a pile of laundry. She hugged me tightly, rejoicing, thanking me. Jesus said, “There is more joy in heaven over one lost sinner who repents and returns to God than over ninety-nine others who are righteous and haven’t strayed away!” (Luke 15:7).

I’m praying with renewed urgency for my family. The mother’s love was a picture of God’s love. “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).