LEAD. December 2020 | Page 59

the consequences of decisions we made in our Eve of Denial — he sees us . More importantly , he allows us the opportunity to see him . To know him . Hebrews 10:36 speaks of the promise we receive when we come out of the dark and step into the life he has been planning for us all along .
In the final pages of A Christmas Carol , Ebenezer (“ stone of help ”) will become the one of whom it was always said , “ He knew how to keep Christmas well , if any man alive possessed the knowledge .” He will come to accept Christmas , to practice Christmas , to live Christmas — this same man who , hours before , denied any connection with the holiday and lived without any evidence of connection to the One for whom the holiday is named .
Excerpted from Keeping Christmas by Allison Pittman . Used
by permission of Baker Books , a division of Baker Publishing
Group
( http :// www . bakerpublishinggroup . com ).
Copyright
2020 .
BUY NOW
Allison Pittman is the bestselling and award-winning author of several novels , including Stealing Home , Loving Luther , and The Seamstress , as well as the nonfiction Saturdays with Stella . A fourtime Christy Award finalist and two-time RITA finalist , Pittman is the winner of a Carol Award and of the Mentor of the Year Award from American Christian Fiction Writers . A devout bibliophile , Pittman currently teaches English part-time at her church ’ s private Christian school , illuminating the Christian worldview found in all manner of literature , both sacred and secular . 59