Debbie's Perspective

When Mary said to the angel, “I am the Lord’s servant. May everything you have said about me come true,” do you think she knew the stretching of her faith it would cause? When Joseph believed the angel and took Mary for his wife, did he know? Did they know the hardships they would face on the way to God’s glorious plan being fulfilled?

You would think that such a powerful promise from God that started out with angels bringing the news would have meant easy street, right? I mean, come on, she’s carrying a baby conceived by the Holy Spirit. He will be very great and will be called the Son of the Most High. He’ll reign over Israel forever; his Kingdom will never end! That surely means there will be no trouble ahead.

Wrong. Everyone else wasn’t in on the plan. I’m sure there was talk around town, and probably some finger pointing. Then, when the baby is about to be born they have to travel a long distance to Bethlehem. Of course they should have a nice room with a comfy bed. No, the doors are all closed to them. A dirty manger with stinky animals is all they have.

God are you there? Surely you didn’t plan this? Are you mad at us? Did we do something wrong? Maybe we didn’t hear you right? Were those the questions they were asking or did they know?

Haven’t you felt that way before? You’ve gotten a promise from God, probably not delivered by an angel, but a real sense that God was bringing you something or leading you somewhere. You happily received that promise, and then somewhere down the road everything seemed to fall apart. Nothing happened or it did, but now it is all messed up.

Did they know that all of those things were part of the plan. Maybe they didn’t know that what seemed like a promise gone wrong was actually going to be a big deal in retelling their story. Maybe those times when we think God has left us and things are darkest are going to be the big deal in the retelling of our great faith story.

Of course, we know that God was right there with them orchestrating everything. We know the birth, the death, the resurrection. God knew it all as it was being lived out day by day. He knows our story, too, from beginning to end. Those dark times are in His hands as much as all the wonderful times.

Don’t we know that if Mary and Joseph had to walk out their faith day by day we will too? One small sentence in the story told in Luke 2:18 says, “All who heard the shepherds’ story were astonished, but Mary kept all these things in her heart and thought about them often.” Did she think back to when the angel told her, “Nothing is impossible with God”? A whole host of angels proclaiming the news of the child and shepherds coming to worship Him? God’s promise was being revealed right before her eyes.

Maybe that is the key for us. As we celebrate this wonderful season of Christ’s birth, let us keep these things in our hearts and think about them often. God is fulfilling His plan in each one of us. It usually doesn’t go the way we think it should, but that doesn’t mean it’s not in His plan.

If you don’t believe me, just look at some other stories – David; annointed king and then running for his life for 15 years. Joseph; dreams of greatness, then is sold into slavery and imprisoned. Don’t let the dark times make you waiver in your faith or think your faith is wasted.

Did they know? Do we know? Either way, God is always faithful. We can put our total faith in the fact that God knows the story from beginning to end.