Years ago, a friend asked Asheritah Ciuciu if she was excited that the Christmas season had arrived.
“Actually, no,” she said.
Christmas had both a joyful side and a dark side for Asheritah. She and her parents lived in Romania for ten years during the communist regime while her father pastored five churches – one officially recognized church and four underground churches. They lived under intense persecution and death threats.
Asheritah’s childhood Christmases had so many hard memories that she grew up wanting the season to be over with as soon as possible. That lasted until her friend told her, “It doesn’t have to be that way. You have the opportunity to begin new Christmas traditions with your family.”
That conversation sent Asheritah on a journey of rediscovering the joy of Christmas anew by studying four principles of Advent:
- Hope
- Preparation
- Joy
- Love
As we shift gears from Thanksgiving into Christmas, maybe you’re struggling to remember the “reason for the season.” Asheritah Ciuciu is with us on our Focus on the Family Broadcast “How Advent Changed My Perspective on Christmas” to share why Jesus is the “King of kings” (1 Tim. 6:15, ESV), why God exalted Him as “the name that is above every name” (Phil. 2:9, ESV), and why “at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Phil. 2:10-11, ESV).
For encouragement to have not a perfect Christmas but a richer one, join us for our program on your local radio station, online, on Apple Podcasts, via Google Podcasts, or take us with you on our free phone app.
For a gift of any amount, we’d like to offer you Asheritah Ciuciu’s beautiful Christmas Advent book called Unwrapping the Names of Jesus. Our offices are closed today, but you can visit our website for more information or give us a call at 1-800-A-FAMILY (232-6459). If you can’t afford it, we’ll find a way to get it to you.
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