Journeying to Christmas, 2019
Melissa’s Story of Listening to God through the life of Mary.
My friend Melissa graciously offered to share her story of experiencing the power of God in her own life. The narrative of Mary and Elizabeth and Sarah was not just ancient history for Melissa. It was the piece of God’s story that Melissa needed, which brought hope to her heart. And eventually God filled Melissa’s womb too as He did for Mary, Elizabeth, and Sarah.
In her words …
“Mary is my people. Mary, Elizabeth, Sarah …
God has long chosen the abnormal for His ongoing story of redemption and hope and powerful glory. More often than not scriptures tell of the barren and broken and small being used in mighty ways by God. And their pain is part of the glory. Without Elizabeth being old and barren, John’s story is normal, everyday. Without Mary being a virgin Jesus’s conception would not have been the holy one described to us.
As I read of these stories, these women, I am suddenly struck by the fact that these are my women, my people. I can relate to them. To their waiting, their confusion, their pain. Their stories are ugly, frustrating, hopeless at times. I feel comfortable around them.
This feeling of comfort as I sit and imagine their realities is new, but so is a sense of my story being bigger than I usually accept. If their smallness has been celebrated for centuries, if their pain was made beautiful by God, if their stories are remembered because of God’s power, than maybe me story is significant too. It is the same God that was near them that is near me. It is the same Father who called them as the One who has called me. The unchanging nature of God’s purposes are as true for me as it was for them. So my story is their story. Their story mine. We are small and weak. Yet our story is painted with tender brush strokes from a tender Lord. His power is made perfect in our weakness and He is kind enough to take us along for the adventure of seeing His power at work in us.
So I am thankful for the realization that my story is good, significant, chosen, and I can relate to my sisters of scripture more than I could have imagined.”
“Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God …
And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived …
her who was called barren.
For nothing will be impossible with God.”
Luke 1
Melissa with Lucille, and Rosie
Thank you Melissa for recognizing that the stories God has allowed to be preserved for us, are the very stories that God wants to encourage us with today.
“… if their stories are remembered because of God’s power, then maybe my story is significant too.”
Yes, Melissa, your story IS significant! And the powerful God that Mary knew, that Elizabeth knew, is the same powerful God who is at work in your life … in our lives.