Cheers
Lisa

Thank your for your wonderful article about Mary. I asked myself this question, What was it about her that made her so ‘highly favored’ and enabled her to walk in total submission and trust with her God? She not only had to submit under the terms of His birth but also in His death. I love my sons so much that even a case of the sniffles causes me anxiety! (I know, I’m a mother-bear! Totally!) Imagine one of our children facing rejection, beatings and execution? Especially when you know the truth of their being and innocence? How hard it would be!

I often think of Mary in very surreal terms. I picture this willowy woman in total piety, naieve, pure. Now perhaps she was all of these but I believe that she was very much Human also, just like us. She sinned, she had bad days, maybe even was jealous of the girl down the lane who she might have thought prettier than herself. The difference would be what did she do with those feelings. She must have learned how to trust God and walk in submission. She was trained by parents and family members to not listen to her pride and to know what humility is and looks like and how it behaves.

I am a Mom and with two very energetic boys, I’m learning that they learn by careful training and by watching. Mary must have had some pretty Godly parents and family that trained her well and were an example to her.

She also must have spent time with God and dwelling on his word. She must have done well to “hide His word in her heart” when she sat listening in the Temple. I would assume that when she would hear the word it must have touched her deeply and she let it impress itself into her soul. She knew Truth and kept it most important in her life, central, and thought on it often. Our equivalent of reading our Bibles often and really studying it! Just think, we have the written word, she didn’t. There weren’t millions of copies and translations of the OT floating around and women weren’t aloud to read it, let alone touch it! She had no flowered covered daily devotions to turn to, no woman’s daily bible reading. She had her time in the temple and perhaps a few women to ask if she didn’t understand something. Other than that she had to rely on God to help her understand.

What made her ‘highly favored’? I can’t say with a specific chapter and verse where God says specifically why but I believe He lets Mary reveal it in her answer. She was willing to walk humbly with her God. She just believed Him and let Him worry about how it would play itself out. As a woman of this generation, I long to lay down my pride and walk humbly with my Father and Savior. To simply believe Him at His word and not second guess or think through with my own reasoning. Zachariah did and it cost him his speech for quite a long time! I am learning to do this by looking fully into the face of humility. When we look at the definition of humility and contrast how both pride and humility manifest themselves we are confronted and know we must change. You were right Wendy when you said that humility is power under control, there is a Chinese symbol for humility in their language that shows just that. I also know that it is often coupled with Grace which is un-merited favor. May God grow me in both! As it says in Proverbs, may I not lean on my own understanding but only on His as He reveals and when it seems fuzzy or unclear, He is still in control and doesn’t need my help. I sometimes forget that I am not Holy Spirit Jr.!

We are all highly favored as His children through adoption but I believe that when we look beyond our position and into what is required, submission, we please His heart even more.

Thanks for a place to ramble and to learn!

Bethany

Salam, Allah yabarik fiiki! I’m honored to have you as one of the few who live in both my blog worlds! If you get the mag, (and like the piece) do write them a letter…I have many such kind of stories to write, but they need to see the demand for it to risk being spiritual ‘off-season’.