In last week’s blog, our Chico Hearts Being Healed Board shared our favorite Christmas songs with you to wish you a very merry and blessed Christmas, and in the hope that you spend time listening to those lyrics while worshipping at the feet of Jesus during the week we celebrate His birth.

This week, the final two board members are sharing their songs with you to encourage you to take the joy that celebrating the birth of Jesus gives us into the new year, welcoming 2026 with expectation that God will do even greater things, in our lives as individuals, in our communities, and in our country and the world. Continue to worship with these songs at the feet of Jesus, and invite him to order your steps as you cross the threshold into a new year and new adventure with Him.

O Holy Night – Sara Cain

Some of my first memories are of my family gathered around my mother playing the piano and singing together. She had a beautiful soprano voice and she sang with sincere conviction and passion. O Holy Night was her favorite Christmas song – we might get by without singing other songs, but when she sang O Holy Night, we all joined in.  Somehow (Holy Spirit?) none of us could remain still or be distracted when she started singing…

O Holy Night, the stars are brightly shining, it is the night of our dear Savior’s birth. Long lay the world in sin and error pining, til He appeared and the soul felt its worth. A thrill of hope, the weary soul rejoices; for yonder breaks a new and glorious morn! Fall on your knees! O hear the angel voices! O night divine, O night when Christ was born. O night divine. O night, O night divine!

I love these specific words … they carry such weight for me …

Pining  …  yearning, longing, waiting desperately, a gnawing in the gut because we’re so desperate for Him.

Soul felt its worth  … the first acknowledgement of the value Jesus gave me when he came to us to redeem us, the first thoughts of “wow, I was lost in sin and confusion and chaos, but now Jesus comes and shows me how valuable I am to Him.”

Thrill of hope … the birth of hope that is truly thrilling and overwhelming that creates joy.

Fall on your knees…  Humble yourself and give thanks for this miracle.

The 2nd verse reminds us of how His coming should change us. Modern versions leave out the first two lines for some reason, but it calls us to love as Jesus loves, and tells us of the miracles he does for us.

Truly He taught us to love one another;
His law is love and His gospel is peace.
Chains shall He break, for the slave is our brother,
and in His name all oppression shall cease.
Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we,
let all within us praise His holy name.
Christ is the Lord! O praise His name forever!
His power and glory evermore proclaim!
His power and glory evermore proclaim!

I was child number five of six, and the third daughter. As we grew older, my two older brothers joined us less often due to chores or “more exciting things” in their opinions and my third brother was just a baby. My mother continued to accompany us but left the singing to us girls, and my dad, too, took his joy in listening to his three daughters, his eyes closed, and keeping time by tapping his foot to the music. My oldest sister Karen had a beautiful soprano voice like my mother’s. My sister Sheryl had a rich satiny alto voice. And then there was me, the little one, not a true soprano, not a vibrant alto, but I was gifted with an ear to hear harmony. So as we girls sang, I naturally harmonized between my two sisters’ soprano and alto creating trio harmony, and we sang our hearts out. In later years, after my mother had already gone to heaven, my dad told me that hearing us three sisters sing in perfect harmony, especially O Holy Night, was the greatest gift we gave him and my mother.

I believe God created musical harmony as a tangible way for us to experience and understand the beauty that working together creates; each of us having our own unique contribution that comes together with others’ giftings to create a work much greater and more beautiful than each on its own. The unity through Holy Spirit weaves together the individual gifts to create something new that is extravagantly beautiful and glorifies God, and brings the Kingdom of Heaven near.

I am so thankful for my Christians heritage and that I had the opportunity to fall in love with Jesus before I even had the intellectual understanding of what that meant. Now, as a great-grandmother, I fully understand and I make that choice over and over again, because He first loved me and He lavishes His love on me, and He’ll never let me go!

While many of the greatest vocalists have performed this song, I chose to post this version of non-celebrity siblings singing it, bringing back those sacred memories to me. As you hear this beautiful song, my prayer is that you fall in love with Jesus if you haven’t already, and if you have, tell the world and praise His name forever!

Yeshua – Denise Dright

As we move into the new year, let us remember that THIS is the day, every day …  THIS day is the day to worship, express joy, and live for Him, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Yeshua.

“I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.”  – Revelations 22:13