She Said Yes

And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus. Luke 1:31

What were your plans when you were a teenager? Having fun with your friends? Dating the coolest boy or girl in school? Going to college? Dreaming about the perfect career? Life doesn’t always work out like we expected or planned and for Mary, this certainly was the case. A teenager. Engaged. Dreaming of marriage. THEN GOD…

We often talk about Mary’s character, humble and kind, part of the reasons she was highly favored by God. It is true, God chose Mary, probably for many reasons we don’t even understand. How humbling and overwhelming it would have been to realize what God was asking. The life of obedience, service, faithfulness that lay ahead. A life of possibly being outcast because of the pregnancy before marriage. A life with sorrow, pain, suffering but also a life of blessing. I have no doubt that all those things flashed before her eyes as the angel stood before her. Pregnant? Baby? How? BUT GOD…

Mary had to have had deep faith that all things are possible with God. The most faithful, thing we can do or say to God is “yes”. You see, God has a plan for your life, just like He did for Mary’s. The only way to walk in that plan is to say yes, even when things seem hard and it looks like the world has turned against us. Mary was risking everything. Her future was at risk. Her marriage was at risk. Her very character would be questioned and still she said yes. And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word (Luke 1:38). She did not argue with God. She did not try and get her own way. She trusted, she believed, and she said yes.

This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent. John 6:29

Pastor Julia Scott