As we get ready to turn the page on a new year, my prayer is for you to have health, happiness, and peace throughout the year. And knowing that life doesn’t always go the way we want it, and struggles come our way, I pray you’d know the Healer, Jesus Christ, in times when it […]
But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart (Luke 2:19). It was all too amazing, so awe inspiring, only Adonai could have arranged such a thing. She looked down at her baby, nestled in cloths, warm and secure, sound asleep on her still enlarged belly that previously held the long-awaited […]
“It’s just you and me,” Joseph reassured Mary. He loved her so much. “And Adonai” Mary reassured him as a sweet smile spread across her face, blooming with the aura of anticipated motherhood. She had loved Joseph before, but now she loved him all the more for the risks he was taking to his reputation […]
Telling Joseph went better than telling her parents who already had her things on the doorstep to greet her upon her return. A spoiled-purity daughter was of no use to them and definitely no longer welcome to set foot in their home for the sake of their own honor. They wouldn’t speak to her or […]
Luke 1:56 Mary stayed with Elizabeth for about three months and then returned home. By now she was beginning to show in her pregnancy and she would have some explaining to do. First to Joseph, but also to her parents. “Not looking forward to that,” she thought. “Words, Adonai. What words do I use with […]
Mary was overcome with joy—a three-fold joy! First, joy at the affirmation of what she knew about herself with a role in the birth of Messiah, joy at seeing the truth of what she’d been told about Elizabeth, and of course, the simple joy at seeing relatives she loved. She couldn’t contain it any longer […]
With that awkwardness out of the way and moving beyond parental permission, Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea, a walk of 90 miles. She didn’t mind the time being alone with her thoughts. Five days of travel to ponder, Who could she tell? Who should she tell? […]
Mary’s mind was all awhirl as she made her way home from this totally bizarre encounter. She believed it was real, but it was too strange for comfort. She wanted to be alone. No! That’d be the worst thing. She’d talk herself out of it, she reasoned. What she really needed was to be in […]
Mary listened attentively and at long last, Mary pieced together what the angel Gabriel was saying to her. She blushed deeply and asked the obvious: “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?” The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High […]
“Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.” Mary was still looking at Gabriel when her heart became greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God”. What is […]
