Most people worry over getting "just the right gift" or other Christmas preparations. For this anxiety-sufferer, it goes way beyond that. I worry about the gifts. I worry about forgetting to buy gifts. I worry about the trip to see family, and will the car be okay? I worry about how we're going to pay the bill for getting the car repaired. I worry about the weather. I worry about the list...have I forgotten to put something on it, so I won't forget to do something???
Do you see?
Advent is supposed to be a time of spiritual preparation. We are to take this four weeks and especially prepare, not only to celebrate Christ's birth, but, more important, prepare our hearts for His second return. (Let every heart prepare Him room!)
How can I do that when I am trapped in this misery of fear, worry, anxiety, doubt...? It's not impossible, but it is very, very difficult.
I will struggle through. Whatever you are facing, I pray that you will struggle through as well.
God bless.
And she gave birth to her first-born son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn. 
"In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary. And he came to her and said, "Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you!" But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and considered in her mind what sort of greeting this might be. And the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there will be no end." And Mary said to the angel, "How shall this be, since I have no husband?" And the angel said to her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born * will be called holy, the Son of God. And behold, your kinswoman Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. For with God nothing will be impossible." And Mary said, "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word." And the angel departed from her. Luke 1:26-38
