While researching, praying for guidance and talking to my Mother I came to the conclusion it would be about Mary. A very important person in this whole Amazing Story.
One day I may share my testimony part of that day, but today I want to give all attention to Mary.
So here is what I shared last year at the Ladies of Grace Christmas Brunch.......................
Have you ever wondered why God allows certain things to happen in your life? Or why he places you in certain situations?
Well over two thousand years ago a young girl was probably thinking the same thing and I want to share a story about her.
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**A reading from "God Speaks to Women Today" by Eugenia Price
~Mary-A Young Woman Chosen by God~
A round faced, olive-skinned Hebrew girl in her late teens sat grinding barley with a mortar and pestle in the front yard of her father's house in Nazareth, a backward little hill town in northern Galilee. Her name was Mary, and next to the Lord God, she loved her father's gentle neighbor, Joseph, whose carpentry shop was near their home. It was spring, and Mary sang as she ground the barley grains; small red and brown birds in the trees above her sang too. She had just become engaged to marry Joseph the tall bearded, kindly man whose strong hands shaped such smooth ox yokes and cradles and well buckets from the hard woods in the hills around Nazareth.
The song she sang was a Psalm of joy and praise to the God of her fathers. Mary's young life had known no touch of sorrow or pain, only joy, and now her cup ran over with it. A redstart sang a sudden solo on a low limb right above her head, and she stopped grinding and laughed aloud with the bird.
And then her laughter stopped abruptly. Someone else was there with her in the yard under the trees! She still held the stone pestle in one smooth, brown hand, as she stared into the face of the kindest and most beautiful Being she had ever seen.
His voice was clear and quiet.
"Greetings, favored lady? The Lord is with you."
Sensing her fear, the Visitor went on talking even more gently. "Have no fear, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And observe, you will conceive in your womb and give birth to a Son and you shall call Him Jesus. He shall be great and shall be called the Son of the Highest, and the Lord God shall give Him the throne of His father David. He shall be King over the house of Jacob forever; there shall be no end to His kingdom."
The young girl was sitting bolt upright on her short-legged grinding stool, her dark grey eyes wide with wonder and perplexity and confusion, but her fear was gone. After a long moment, she caught her breath enough to ask: "But - how shall this be, since I have no husband yet?"
The Holy Spirit shall come upon you, Mary, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow you and therefore that Off-spring shall be called - God's Son."
Mary dropped the pestle unnoticed and covered her face with her hands. The message was more then she could bear. As though to help cope with the wonder, the bright Visitor stepped a little closer to where she sat and began to tell her about someone she knew well, someone close to her and familiar.
"Your cousin Elizabeth is to be mother of a son in her old age, Mary. This is her sixth month, who was called sterile!" The girl raised her eyes again. "Elizabeth?"
"Nothing is impossible with God," the Angel said.
She had never heard God's voice with her ears before, but her heart recognized Him well. Relieved and awed by the familiar recognition, she bowed before the Angel and said the only thing Mary's simple, committed, open heart could have said at that moment: "Here I am, the Lord's servant girl. Let it be with me as you say."
And then the heavenly Visitor was gone.
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Can you imagine being told by an Angel that you are going to give birth to the Son of the Most High?!?! This meant she would bear, God Himself!
Every devout Hebrew woman among the remnant of those still faithful to the Lord God hoped and prayed that the promised Messiah would come through her. Everyone, perhaps, but the humble, young Hebrew girl, Mary. I somehow doubt that Mary even thought of praying that she might be the mother of the promised Redeemer of Israel. If she did, surely she prayed with totally unmixed motives. God had found her heart and her motives utterly clear and directed to Him only.
Otherwise He could not have chosen her.
At first Mary was startled when an angel appeared to her and spoke. But after Gabriel explained it all to her with a calm faith; Mary obediently accepted God's call. Her words were tender; she spoke these words from her heart.
Luke 1:38 says......
"Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your words".
Mary's believing response was to surrender herself to God as His willing servant. She experienced the grace of God and believed the Word of God, and therefore she could be used by the Spirit to accomplish the will of God.
Just like Mary surrendered to God I also had to turn my life over to Him during the many years of trying to conceive. And that is part of my testimony I will think about sharing one day. But for now how does the story of Mary apply to women today?
For me it wasn't until I trusted and surrendered my life to Him that He was able to preform a miracle in my life.....two miracles.
If we surrender, believe His word and act on our beliefs it allows God to use us in His ways.
When God speaks to us, requesting obedience, what happens? Do we need only a momentary adjustments? Do we need only to ask one or two natural questions as Mary asked?
Or do we have to go through the whole thing again? Do we have to struggle in order to decide whether or not we will obey Him?
We can surrender in all kinds of ways. Small ways or big ways. And all sizes in between!!!! Surrendering may be a consistent daily time with our Father. It may be to have a joyful attitude with others-a friendly smile or hello. Surrendering to God is not always a major occurrence!
My surrendering was not just a blessing of two amazing babies, but it brought me closer to God and my walk with Him became much stronger.
Any woman can be called by God; any woman can find favor with God, if her heart is committed once and for all to the Lord God.
**After I spoke that day this song was sung. It was the first time I had ever heard it and I wiped tears from my face the entire time. It is absolutely beautiful!!! Enjoy! All scenes from the video are from the movie "The Nativity Story". It is a must watch at Christmas!**
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