Mary: An ordinary girl, with extraordinary faith

Wow...quite some time has passed since I have found time to blog. Not much new on the adoption front. We finally have our appointment for the first portion of our home study next week. I am relieved that we are finally moving forward!! The next few blogs I write I hope to be about the Christmas season. I love Christmas. I love the bright lights, the flurries in the air, the joyous Christmas music, the time spent with family and friends and most of all, the true meaning of Christmas-celebrating the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ. Christmas is a season of miracles and the greatest miracle of all-the birth of Jesus to the virgin Mary.

 I was pondering about Mary yesterday as I read the nativity story in the book of Luke. I imagine Mary to be a young, pure and simple girl excited to be on the threshold of a new adventure in life-marriage to Joseph. She probably grew up hearing all her life of the coming Savior to the world. Never in her mind had she imagined that she would be the one chosen to carry the Messiah. She must have had an intimate relationship with God and an unshakeable faith for her to respond with excitement instead of fear. If I had been in her situation, I can only imagine the thoughts running through my head. "What will everyone think of me? What will happen to my upcoming marriage? How can this be happening to me?" But Mary's concerns were not inward. She did not concern herself with what others would think of her. She did not worry about her marriage,  or the possibility that she could be stoned for her "sins"; instead, she praised the Lord for His marvoulus works. She didn't worry about how the course of her personal life would be different, but instead she ecstatically took the path that God mapped out for her, realizing that what God had for her was bigger than herself. God used Mary to change the very course of history.

I can't help but wonder what God wants to do through you and through me. He doesn't always work through us in orthodox ways; we cannot put Him in a box and the path He takes us on is not always smooth sailing (though it has been carefully mapped out!)  If you will listen to His voice, He may change the course of your life and the course of history in an instant.  He may ask you to become a missionary to take His Gospel all over the world. He may ask you to give more money than you think you could possibly make in a year. He may ask you to adopt a child, to open a homeless shelter. He may ask you to feed orphans, minister to the elderly, or pray for hours in intercession. How will you answer when God asks you to do something unimaginable and unthinkable that may change the course of your life forever? Will you respond in fear, in trepidation? Will you worry about what others think? Or will you respond with joy, able to see the bigger picture? I pray that God will give me, an ordinary girl, extraordinary faith to respond to His will in my life, even if His plans for me are not what I expected.

A Lesson in Waiting...and waiting...

Nobody likes to wait. Waiting at the doctor's office seems like such a waste of time. Waiting in line; waiting in traffic; waiting to hear a doctor's report; waiting for a new baby to get here; none of these things are fun. One of the fruits of the spirit is patience. I guess God is trying to teach me patience on a whole new level. We got word today regarding Mission 1:27....more waiting at LEAST until January or February to see if we get national approval. We got word on our home study....more waiting at least another week or two while the new area director is in training-- and all this waiting is coming before the acutal waiting for our referral! So I guess for now, God is trying to teach us a lesson in waiting...Please, Lord, let me learn it quickly! I am tired of waiting!