A Global Advent: 25 Stories of God With Us Around the WorldSample

What makes your home feel like Christmas is coming?

Maybe you have already untangled the lights (good job!) and decked all of the halls. Or perhaps you simply enjoy festive hot beverages and a little fa-la-la in your music playlist!

Whatever your style, there is something about December that draws most of us to the coziness of home. And yet, our home is so much more than just the place we bring people together for the holidays, isn’t it? Homes are a part of our security, identity, our memories, and our hopes.

God knows our desire to feel at home. This is why when Jesus came, He promised us a room in the family house. Jesus taught His home would be with us, and in Him, we would finally have a home nothing in this world can destroy.

For one family in El Salvador, this promise was illustrated through an extraordinary gift.

Rosa was excited to welcome her second child to the world. But walking the path home from a hospital check-up just days before giving birth to her daughter, an impending crisis would change everything. The usual sounds of singing insects in the jungle gave way to panicked shouts. Wood and metal crashing. The smell of smoke.

Standing in the ashes of her former home with her 10-year-old daughter Maritza, Rosa felt devastated. Hopeless. Alone.

Photo Caption: Maritza sits on the remains of her home, destroyed by fire.

But she wasn’t alone. As curious neighbours left, a few friends from the nearby church remained with her.

Maritza is registered at the local Compassion centre, and her family is well-known to Juanita, the centre director. After securing a temporary shelter and emergency supplies for the family, the centre applied to access Compassion’s Emergency Fund.

Within days, construction began on a new home for Rosa and her family! The home was ready within weeks of the new baby arriving—a home that was stronger, safer, and more beautiful than the one they had before.

They chose to paint their new home sky-blue, a reminder of our heavenly home and God’s presence.

Photo Caption: A new home painted blue.

This Christmas, celebrate the hope we have in Jesus by remembering his invitation to a perfect home where we can be with him.

How could you extend a warm place of belonging to someone else this season?