Mary's Response

This next portion of scripture is Mary's response to her cousin Elizabeth's exclamation that Mary is a blessed woman to be chosen to carry the Son of God.

I read it this morning and it really affected me...I'll explain how after you read the scripture.

Mary Visits Elizabeth
39At that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea, 40where she entered Zechariah's home and greeted Elizabeth. 41When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. 42In a loud voice she exclaimed: "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! 43But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? 44As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. 45Blessed is she who has believed that what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished!"

Mary's Song
46And Mary said:
"My soul glorifies the Lord
47and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
48for he has been mindful
of the humble state of his servant.
From now on all generations will call me blessed,
49for the Mighty One has done great things for me—
holy is his name.
50His mercy extends to those who fear him,
from generation to generation.
51He has performed mighty deeds with his arm;
he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts.
52He has brought down rulers from their thrones
but has lifted up the humble.
53He has filled the hungry with good things
but has sent the rich away empty.
54He has helped his servant Israel,
remembering to be merciful
55to Abraham and his descendants forever,
even as he said to our fathers."

Here is what happened to me last night. I went to my sister's Christmas recital. Let me tell you about my sister. She's the consummate over-achiever. Everyone loves her, and tells her how awesome she is - often. She succeeds at everything she does. Her work and her studies are both in the area of music - which is her life passion. She

was doing college level trigonometry in high school. She organizes, plans, and runs literally every event that the singles group in my church does. She is the most sought after performer in her college. It's just incredible how successful and popular she is. Every week she's telling me about a different guy at her school that she has had to turn down because there are so many who want to go out with her.

I'm not exaggerating!

Well, last night I started doing something very dangerous - I started comparing. I tried to measure my life up to hers. I fell miserably short. I work at a dead-end job. I don't like what I'm doing, I don't think I'm very good at it. Any talent that I thought I might have had, I never had the opportunity to develop.
The more I thought about it, the more I felt like a failure. I started to hate my sister. I started to wish everyone loved me the way they loved her.

Then this morning I ready Mary's song.

Look at how humble Mary is. She never sought to put herself ahead. She was never in the spot light. Her song goes like this: He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble.

The Lord was speaking very clearly to me through Mary's song. I knew that I was being proud. I wanted the praise of man more than the praise of God. I was not content to be a humble person. I wanted all the bells, whistles, and attention that my sister was getting. I need to humble myself, and remember The Lord will lift me up in his timing, and until then, I will say with Mary:
My soul glorifies the Lord
and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
for he has been mindful
of the humble state of his servant.

Mary

Here's the begining of the story in the book of Luke. It's all about Mary!

The Birth of Jesus Foretold
26In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, 27to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin's name was Mary. 28The angel went to her and said, "Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you." 29Mary was greatly
troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. 30But the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. 31You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. 32He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, 33and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end."

34"How will this be," Mary asked the angel, "since I am a virgin?" 35The angel answered, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called[c] the Son of God. 36Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be barren is in her sixth month. 37For nothing is impossible with God." 38"I am the Lord's servant," Mary answered. "May it be to me as you have said." Then the angel left her.

Mary's answer at the end allways affects me: "May it be to me as you have
said." THIS IS AN AWKWARD SITUATION FOR HER! Remember? It's not like he's telling her, "Ok Mary, from now on you have to go to church every Sunday." um...he's telling her that's she's going to become pregnant! Do you know how people usually become pregnant? Well, for a virgin betrothed (or engaged) to a man, but not yet married, that's awkward. But she doesn't even hesitate: May it be to me as you have said.

I want to be like Mary. Whatever my God has for me, I will accept.

I don't like my job. I want to leave - badly!! I left yesterday crying my eyes out because one of our clients spent a quite a bit of his time yelling at me. Not fun. I want to leave NOW, but God has not given me another job, and I can't just NOT work. I have a choice, I can be mad at God and tell him to do what I say...or I can do as Mary did and say, "May it be to me as you have said."

What about you? Do you have a situation that you wish were different? What decision will you make?

Anything else jump out at you from this passage?

The Beginning of the Story

Got your cozy drink? Great! Let's get started on our slow walk through the Christmas Story.
Every story has a beginning, but GREAT stories, have great beginnigs...so let's read:

The Birth of Jesus Christ
This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.
But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins."
All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: "The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel"—which means, "God with us."
When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. But he had no union with her until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.

What hit's me fist off: God puts people in awkward situations.

Man and woman - betrothed - aka engaged, woman "mysteriously" gets pregnant - AWKWARD! Especially in a small town that is very religious! But God choose to do it that way. He tells Mary what's going on, he tells Joseph what's going on, and no matter how awkward or socially taboo, he expects them to obey him and trust him. And that's what they do.

What awkward or difficult situation is God putting you through? Are you willing to trust and obey him no matter what? It worked out well for Mary and Joseph - as we will soon find out....

I'll be back tomorrow with more of the story, but I want to hear your thoughts on it. What stuck out to you? It's probably something completely different than my thoughts. Comment away!

December!!

December 4th - that's today.

So today is December - that means CHRISTMAS!!!

What makes your Christmas holiday so special?

For me, it's a lot of things:

Decorating, christmas lights, smell of cinnamon, taste of Christmas cookies, Christmas carols, somewhat cooler weather (can't really call it cold), seeing family I don't see much, and lots and lots of shopping!!!

But the most important thing about Christmas is the reason for all of the above: God himself, coming to earth, and becoming a man. The God-man, Jesus who was born to a young girl in a manger.

I will be blogging through the Christmas story, clustering a few verses together and then just thinking about them. I invite you to join me as we walk slowly through this season that seems to hustle and bustle our already hectic lives. So grab a cup of hot cocoa (or a pepermint mocha from Starbucks. yum!) and lets walk nice and slow through the Christmas story.

See you here tomorrow!

Saving the World

I just saw the movie Bella on Tuesday night. I wasn't prepared for what my reaction would be. Bella is an independant film with a pro-life message that I thought was very well done. I really enjoyed the movie, although it's simple, and several of my younger (I like to think less cultured) friends, didn't like it so much.

At the end of the movie I was in tears. All I could think of was how I wanted to change the world. How I wanted to take pain away from one person, or bring joy to one person, or do something to make my stand against all of the death, pain, and anguish, lonliness, hopelessnes, confusion, and anger that is eating away at our world like an aggresive cancer.

I looked at my life, and felt insignificant, like I wasn't doing enough, but knowing that there's not much more I can do. I'm busy, I'm pretty much full to capacity. Believe it or not I am involved in several things that I think will help people, I guess my frustration comes when I don't see many results.

I don't see that tearful joy of a life that's just been changed.

Instead I see the hardened indifference of a college student who doesn't want free water or a short conversation.

I see the irritated Cuban who's name I just spelled wrong as I'm trying to help them get to Cuba and see their family and bring humanitarian aid to the poor.

I see the coldness of my friend who just doesn't want to hear the gospel truth I'm trying to share.

Jesus is the answer...the cure...the remedy, but no one seems to want to listen, no one seems to want to be healed, no one seems to want to admit they are broken.

I am reduced to praying.

Funny how I say that, as if praying is such a weak and insignificant thing to do...'reduced' or privileged?

When will I learn that more gets done when I let God be God?

This post doesn't really have a conclusion - I'm not even sure how cohesive it's been, but these are my thoughts, and I hope this post has provoked some of your own.

Stress

Chances are, if you're a college student, you know from personal experience what stress is. Come to think of it, no matter who you are, we've all experienced stress.

It's only Tuesday, and I already feel burned out from work. Too many people, and too many things all wanting my attention, all claiming to be urgent. I feel stretched in so many directions I think I just might break.

So what do we do when this happens? Go shopping? Grab the ice cream? Watch a movie or get lost in a book? These proposed "solutions to stress" are many, but do any of them really work? I've tried a few, and although some of them may bring temporary relief (Buying a pair of *gorgeous* shoes, for example!) none of them bring ultimate or lasting peace.

I heard a quote today that I want to share with you:

The busier I get, the more I need to spend time in prayer.

It seems like the total opposite of what we should do when our lives start filling up and going crazy, but think about this, if we don't have time to pray over the things we've got going on in our lives, maybe we shouldn't be doing them.

I'll let you think over this for a little while.
Is there something in your life you know you shouldn't be doing - even if it's a good thing, it's keeping you from having time to pray to God?

Stress is unavoidable, but let's make it something that drives us to God instead of away from him.

What it's like, on Tuesday nights.

So, what do we do...besides blog periodically? Our main outreach is the "Free Water" giveaway, every other Tuesday night at Miami Dade College North Campus.

Usually on a Tuesday night, I'm tired from work, I have projects that need to be done at home, but going to Dade4Christ is worth it!

We *try* to get to Miami Dade College around 5:30pm. There are students getting on and off the bus, hanging around, walking to class. We set up our table. "Prayer Station" are the simple words to explain why we're there.

Of course we don't just give out free water, we are there to pray for the students and the campus, we are there to talk to who ever has the time to listen. We know that there is a fountain of living water that will staisfy all who come and drink, so that they will never be thirsty again.

The conversations aren't many, most people just take the water and leave. That's ok. Many refuse, that's ok too although it baffels me. Refuse FREE water? But still they refuse. Skepticism is common in Miami.

But the conversations we do have, they are rich. People are thirsty. Praise God, that even when I'm tired, and even when there is laundry to fold, cars to clean, and a husband to spend time with, I get to be at Dade4Christ offering the water of the gospel to those dying of thirst.