“It’s the most wonderful time of the year,” says an old Christmas song. But for some of us who are reading these words, today may be far from wonderful. Maybe your life has been devastated by disease, or you have recently lost a loved one, or some other painful event is causing you to cry out, “Why is this happening to me?”

Elizabeth knew such pain. She was old and childless, and in that culture she was therefore disgraced (Luke 1:25). Long ago she had probably given up all hope of becoming a ­mother. Imagine the talk in her village: “What do you think she did to make God punish her this way?” God actually didn’t operate that way, but people often made that wrong assumption.

Soon after God’s promise that she and her husband would have a son, however (Luke 1:11-17), Elizabeth became pregnant. Then, six months ­later, her cousin Mary came with even greater news: an angel had said Mary would become the mother of God’s Son (Luke 1:31-32)! Elizabeth was not disappointed or jealous. Full of excitement, she exclaimed, “Why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?”

Today let each of us, no matter our circumstances, look in awe at Christ and ask ourselves, “Why should I be so blessed that Jesus has come to save me and fill me with the hope of eternal life?”

Why? Because God loves you!