Saying "I Do" Luke 1:34-38

“How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?” The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. For no word from God will ever fail. “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May it be to me according to your word.” Then the angel left her. (Luke 1:34-38) NIV

Random Thoughts:

God is not afraid of our questions or offended by the curiosity behind our desire to understand. Unlike Zecharias, Mary doesn’t doubt God’s ability but she does wonder aloud about the “how”. Her curiosity is met with a gentle response and the additional assurance that she is not alone in this experience; God has already performed a miraculous conception for her cousin Elizabeth. God’s word never fails.

I love that God does not demand blind, lock-step obedience from his children. In his patience and mercy, He answers our questions when He can and invites us to trust Him and to partner with Him in the work He has uniquely designed each of us to do. Love is a choice; it cannot be forced or demanded. Love is also an action. Mary listens to God’s message and chooses love in response. She will trust. She will believe. 

Question:

Is there a question you have for God about how He will work something out in your life? In what way is He answering you? And is He waiting for your response to partner with Him in an area He has indicated that you should follow?

Journal Response:

The one second it took to say “I do” in response to “do you take this man...?” was probably the happiest one second of my life. In that singular moment I was not only trusting my heart and future to my 24-year-old newly-college-graduated husband, I was also placing my trust in God to lead us into a shared lifetime that would include many things hoped for--including children.

When we decided to start a family, however, things did not go as planned. In fact, few things regarding our parenting journey really have but who can actually say their parenting experience is text book? We humans are messy. No doubt about it. Kids just make it easier to admit it.

Parenting is a journey we are daily trying to entrust to God, Band-Aids and the hope that our children’s psyches will withstand the trauma of living in the close quarters of a 1948 ranch. It is a journey we are still making but not without asking questions like “How are we supposed to do this?!” of my beloved Father, the One who saw fit to give them to us. 

And His response through the years is often gentle and patient. I throw my tantrums, shed my tears and then, when I am spent and quiet enough to listen (finally at that place where my heart surrenders, “I am your servant, Lord”), He gently provides the answers we have needed: the friend who can relate, the doctor who “gets it”, the reality check that reminds us to laugh, the “Elizabeth” who has been there and done that.  And survived! 

And, of course, there are so many days on this parenting assignment that are just plain wonderful. Today my middle son admitted he’d gone the day without lunch to make sure his sister would have the single one he saw in the fridge (not realizing she’d already taken hers). His sister paused, criticism in mid-air, to stop and say “Oh wow. Thank you”. Rare praise indeed. My oldest (who should be too old and too cool for such things) asks me to stop typing so we can play Monopoly. In our season of teen-wars and near-daily melodrama, there is reason to hope. 

God is not done with our family. And I am probably far from being done asking “How on earth are we supposed to do that?!” How lucky are we to have a God who will pause long enough to let us catch our breath and then lead us the next step of the way.