{"id":36961,"date":"2025-12-08T15:30:05","date_gmt":"2025-12-08T20:30:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/?p=36961"},"modified":"2026-03-09T09:27:39","modified_gmt":"2026-03-09T13:27:39","slug":"pastors-ponderings-never-alone-december-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/?p=36961","title":{"rendered":"Pastor’s Ponderings: Never Alone! (December, 2025)"},"content":{"rendered":"

During Christmas, we hear the word “Emmanuel” in our worship and songs.\u00a0 It means “God with us”, but this is true the entire year, not just during Christmas!\u00a0 Pastor Mike submitted the following thoughts for the December 2025 \/ January 2026 issue of our church’s newsletter (Steeple Notes).<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Emmanuel- God With Us!<\/span><\/h3>\n

One of the most important aspects of my faith is not only eternal life, but also that the Holy Spirit lives with us and dwells with us. I do not take this lightly, and I am so excited that I can experience the Holy Spirit in the new covenant.<\/p>\n

The Holy Spirit is with us in joy, confusion, sorrow, grief and in all aspects of life. This is one of the beautiful messages found on Christmas!\u00a0 I can remember many times that I needed a \u201cpersonal savior\u201d and Jesus has never let me down.<\/p>\n

My faith needs to be personal when:<\/p>\n\n\t\t

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t

\n\t\t\tmy loved ones are injured or recovering…<\/p>\n\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t
\n\t\t\tI am making difficult decisions and\nchallenges lay ahead…<\/p>\n\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t
\n\t\t\tjoys are present.<\/p>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\n

Our faith is personal and I celebrate Emmanuel and that God is with us through the Holy Spirit wherever we are!<\/p>\n

\u201cGod sent his Son, they called Him Jesus\u201d <\/span><\/em><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

This is a line from one of my favorite hymns, Because He Lives<\/a>!<\/p>\n

God cares about us so much that he wanted to live and dwell with us through his Jesus and His Holy Spirit. Let us not take this lightly but cherish that God walks with us. No matter what we face this year, God will be with us through the Holy Spirit. He wants to celebrate and mend our hearts.<\/p>\n

\nAs this new year approaches, may we be excited for what awaits and know that we will never be alone.<\/p>\n

\nPastor Mike Chapman<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

+\u00a0 \u00a0+\u00a0 \u00a0+\u00a0 \u00a0+\u00a0 \u00a0+\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

For more Pastors Ponderings articles, click the following button:<\/p>\nPastor’s Ponderings<\/span><\/a>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Emmanuel- God With Us. This isn’t just a word that we hear in Christmas carols. It’s a fact that’s true throughout the year. In this church newsletter article for the December\/January (25-26) issue of Steeple Notes , Pastor Mike reminds us of God’s continual presence.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9936,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[131],"tags":[144],"class_list":["post-36961","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pastors-ponderings","tag-godspresence"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36961","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=36961"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36961\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36966,"href":"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36961\/revisions\/36966"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9936"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=36961"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=36961"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=36961"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}