Celebrating Christmas in Romania was definitely not what I had expected. I thought I would be sad and depressed that I was not in Wisconsin with my family to celebrate Christmas with the traditions we have created over the years. To my surprise, Christmas held a whole new meaning for me here. I realized after twenty-eight years of living that Christmas is not about traditions, opening presents or caroling throughout the neighborhood. No, Christmas is about giving. Yes I know we have all heard this our whole lives but how many of us actually practiced it? I guess it took me moving away from America to see that Christmas is about helping people in need whether we receive something back in return or not. This last month has been packed full of events, traveling and tons of ministry. Many eye opening moments for me and many hard moments.

We delivered Christmas shoeboxes to some children in the mountains, held a Christmas lunch-in for underprivileged children, gave a poor family of ten food for the holidays and handed out hot meals to a homeless community. I am not sharing this to brag or to say look at everything we did, I am saying this because each of these moments made me have a different perspective of my life. To think that I complain about so many things and then to realize that I should be keeping my mouth shut because I am blessed more than I realize. God opened my heart to these hurting people, God showed me what Christmas is really about and now I finally see what God sees everyday. He sees people who are broken, hungry, naked, lonely, afraid, helpless, needy, lost… He sees them all and for me to have the privilege to see that too will be something I will carry in my heart the rest of my life.