Merry Christmas from all of us at Pearl Girls™! We hope you enjoyed these Christmas "Pearls of Wisdom" from the authors who were so kind to donate their time and talents! If you missed a few posts, I hope you'll be able go back through and read them on this blog over the next few days. If you'd like to keep up with Pearl Girls and our new book project, Mother of Pearl, coming this spring, just click this link and sign up for our newsletter (lower left sidebar).
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Jesus -- The Reason For the SeasonBy: Rachel Hauck
Through the narrow scope of 2000 years, Mary, the mother of Jesus, appears to be one lucky woman. Chosen by God to give birth to His son, the Savior of the world? All right, Mary, way to go.
“Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you,” Gabriel said.
How many of us would like a declaration like that? Highly favored. The Lord is with you. But Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be.
The angel told her, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. Mary’s seems confident and resolved when she responds, “I am the Lord’s servant. May your word to me be fulfilled.”
She’d just been told the Holy Spirit will come upon her, that God’s power will overshadow her, that she’d become with child even though she wasn’t married, and she said, “I’m the Lord’s servant. Let your words be true.”
I find this amazing! A young woman. Ancient Bethlehem. Unwed mother. They stoned women for such things in her day. But Mary believed in God. And submitted to His will. He gave her the Holy Spirit – the same Holy Spirit given to us. If He gave her confidence, He will give us confidence. Even though, like Mary, our situation seems impossible.
Listen to Mary’s song later on in the first chapter of Luke.
“My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed, for the Mighty One has done great things for me Holy is his name…”
Conceiving a child out of wedlock, by Divine intervention. Not a girl’s every day existence. Yet she had a Yes in her heart to God. She rejoiced. She boldly said, “Generations will remember me!”
How we struggle to trust God with our children. Our finances. Our emotional well-being. We worry. We fret. And wonder why we have no peace.
Christmas is the season where words like joy, peace and love are bantered around like Christmas candy. Let’s not take them as just words, but as truth. Let’s be like Mary and embrace God’s favor on our lives. Boldly declare "He’s done great things for me!”
Out of the grit of our own souls, we can reach His heart, and feel Him reaching for ours. No matter the pain of our past, present or future, God is there for us. He is able. Best of all, He is willing. “My soul glorifies the Lord this Christmas!”
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Rachel Hauck is an award winning, best selling author who believes God has done great things for her. She lives in Central Florida with her husband and ornery pets. Her next release is Love Lifted Me with multi-platinum country artist Sara Evans, January 2012. Then in April, look for The Wedding Dress. www.rachelhauck.com.
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This reminded me of an incident when my daughter was 12 years old. My husband had taken the kids to the store with him to get some laundry detergent. As they exited the store my daughter saw a man standing with a sign that said, "Hungry, will work for food." She said something to her dad about it. Then she reached in to take out the money she had taken to the store for candy and asked if she could give it to the man. They walked over and she offered him her money. He thanked her but declined. He said to her, "Young lady I only accept things if I can work for them". My daughter asked her dad what they could do. When they pulled up I saw this man get out and immediately thought the worst. My daughter came in with this man in tow. My husband asked him to join us for dinner. He wanted to take a plate outside because he was dirty. My husband went in and got some clothes for him and handed him a towel and sent him in to take a shower. While he showered I washed his few belongings and dried them. He ate with us then went outside and washed our car for us. I fixed him a bag of left over food handed him his clothes with a few others my husband had put in. My daughter put a card in that said, "Jesus Loves You and so do we".
ReplyDeleteA couple of weeks later I came out to find an envelope under my wiper blade. It was from this man. He had lost everything, his family to an accident then his home to a fire. He had gotten so depressed he'd lost his job. He thought no one cared until our daughter came along and showed him that Jesus cared. He had found a job and was on his way to making it back on his feet. His new boss had a temporary place for him to stay. He just wanted to thank us. He said we were the first in 3 days that had helped him and he had not had a meal in three days. We never know what our actions will bring about.