According to Thy Will

And the angel said unto her, Fear not Mary: for thou hast found favour with God. And behold, thou shalt bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS (Luke 1:30-31).

Mary must have been a special, godly person to have been chosen by God to be the earthly mother of His Son. The Bible tells us that she had found favor with God. She would get to be the mother of the Messiah, the long-awaited, promised One who came to be the Savior of the world. But what a responsibility! And how would it have been to have a son who is perfect when you are not?

And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God (Luke 1:35).

However, she was promised from the very beginning that the Holy Spirit would come upon her, and I'm sure He was with her through all that she would face, and she faced some trials. Not long after Jesus was born, the family would have to flee to Egypt to escape Herod's jealous wrath. And I can't even imagine watching the child you had birthed and raised be abused and crucified. 

And Mary said, Behold, the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word. And the angel departed from her (Luke 1:38).

Mary served the Lord. Anything He asked of her she would do -- even this astounding request of a virgin birth. She must have known she would face ridicule and rejection. She could have even been stoned to death, but she trusted God and wanted His will to be done. We should do the same and be just as faithfully committed to God as this teenager was. There are many important lessons to be learned throughout the Christmas story.

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