What if…
It’s Christmas season!!!
Are you the kind of person that doesn’t start decorating until after Thanksgiving?
Or, are you the kind of person that starts celebrating Christmas the day after Halloween?
I will give you ONE guess to which one I am…
If you have been reading for a while, you KNOW I am the one that celebrates the DAY AFTER HALLOWEEN!
Eek!
I love Christmas.
For so many reasons.
Jesus, of course is the reason.
Also, just being with family and friends.
Being intentional in getting together, eating together, and laughing together.
It really is the most wonderful time of year. (in my humble opinion!)
This month, I am reading a chapter a day in the book of Luke.
Oh, Luke, Luke, Luke.
I love this gospel the most.
He is a writer after my own heart.
His words are eloquent, yet to the point.
Luke is detailed in his writing, often painting a picture with his beautiful words.
It is not hard to see why God chose Luke to write one of the gospels for all of us to read.
I came across this verse today in my reading, and I just cannot quit thinking about it.
“For no Word from God will ever fail.” Luke 1:37
Read that one more time.
We live in a world where words are thrown around like darts.
There is no truth behind a lot of words spoken.
There is no hope in many of the words that we read or hear or even say.
A man or woman’s word doesn’t really hold a lot of weight anymore.
In the old days, a handshake and a promise was as good as gold.
No more of that.
We cannot take any word that we hear from the world as truth anymore.
The ONLY Truth we can set our HOPE and our very lives on is God’s Word.
It is living, breathing, active, sharper than a double edged sword. (Hebrews 4:12)
His Word never returns void. (Isaiah 55:11)
Goodness, what comfort we can take in that.
His Words are never going anywhere.
His Words are as solid as a Rock.
We don’t have to wonder if what we read in the Bible is “fake news”.
It is ALL TRUE.
It will ALL COME TO PASS.
I love Mary’s response to the angel, Gabriel, when he told her that she would conceive a child as a virgin.
She innocently asked, “How will this be since I am a virgin?” Luke 1:34
In Mary’s next breath, she said…
“I am the Lord’s servant. May your word to me be fulfilled.” Luke 1:38
Gosh, what faith.
Do we have this kind of faith?? Do we have this kind of surrender and submission to His Word?
Do we believe what HE says?
Often, when we don’t see an answer to our prayers or His Promises, we come apart.
We often stop praying.
We stop believing.
We stop talking about Jesus.
We believe He is not good for His Word.
We don’t want to be let down or look like a fool, so we shrug it off.
WE ARE MISSING THE BIGGEST AND GREATEST PART OF OUR FAITH JOURNEY WITH JESUS WHEN WE GIVE UP.
What if Mary would have doubted?
What if Mary would have not believed and shrugged it off as an impossible task for God to perform?
What if Mary would have not beiieved that it was possible for her womb to conceive a baby by immaculate conception?
What if….
I can only imagine what we miss out on because of our lack of faith in what God can do.
I can only imagine the sorrow of the angels looking down on us as we decide to take things into our own hands…to do the rational thing…to live by what we see instead of living by faith….
How Heaven must grieve when turn around and start walking back with the “crowd”, with the way of the world…instead of walking in faith—often in the fog—towards His Promises.
“Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.” Matthew 7:13
What if we really took His Word as the whole Truth and nothing but the Truth?
What if we started preparing our lives for the miracles of His Promises instead of trying to think '“rationally”?
God is the God of the Impossible.
If it is rational, it can be done my man.
If it is impossible, it can only be done by God.
What if….
We had the faith of Mary
What if…
We believed in what He says in His Word.
What if….
We stopped trying to look like “good and polished Christians” and started to look like our lives are totally and wholly committed to Christ. No matter how it looks to the world.
Are we willing to follow in Mary’s faithful footsteps?
I am so grateful for Mary, the mother of Jesus.
I know God could have brought Jesus in any other way….but He chose Jesus to be born of a woman.
As a woman, I find this so incredible!
God has plans for us too.
It isn’t just Mary who gets to be a part of this story…
We have a purpose!
If we are breathing air, God has a plan for us!
Let’s take Him at His Word.
Let’s be women that believe and trust and know that HIS Word is True and will never return void.
We may not fit into the rest of the world….but neither did Mary.
She had to go to a stable to have a baby.
She wasn’t exactly loved and admired by the world at this point…in fact, far from it.
This Christmas…let’s look for Christ in our moments.
Let’s choose to take Him at His Word.
Let’s walk by faith and not by sight in every situation that arises.
May Mary’s words become our words…”I am the Lord’s servant. May Your word to me be fulfilled.” Luke 1:38
desperately wanting a heart like Mary’s,
jill
