Rain Falls Like Blessings

Torrential rain and over 70 degrees outside! Strange weather. Next thing you know, there will be a star hovering over a barn and a glow coming from the manger while a bunch of animals and kings bow down...

It was a magical day yesterday. We met a really wonderful family, complete strangers, who then sat in our home and chatted for 2 1/2 hours with us! I am not very social, and really pretty solitary. I would never have envisioned I would enjoy such a marathon time of getting to know someone like that, but they were completely delightful. And when they left, I understood better why we are supposed to surround ourselves with people. People can be a positive influence. You folks that aren't introverts don't understand how draining social interaction can be and why people like me tend to avoid it. But I was uncharacteristically energized, and grateful that God brought this family our way.

I am always amazed at what God teaches me, and in the most unexpected circumstances. In our Bible study yesterday morning, our teacher made the excellent point that it is often through very difficult times that we are forced to understand if our faith is real, or is it just hypocrisy. Mary, Jesus' mother, accepted on faith that what the angel told her was true, and that she would bear God's son, the savior of the world. Through that unfathomable hardship and uncertainty, she endured because she trusted that God was there and He cared for her. In faith, she emptied her life into His hands. We all know how that story ended. All humankind that shared the faith of Mary would be saved, by believing in the sacrifice of her Son, his redemptive atonement for our sins, and His resurrection. New life, life eternal, became reality for all who believe.

We had a difficult circumstance we needed to confront, one that gave me yet another sleepless night. And yet, we turned to scripture and to God, and the result was meeting this wonderful family and believing all will be well... In the process, we as a family wrestled with the Word of God and our own interpretation and understanding of its sufficiency for every issue of life. That struggle will continue till the day we die, but I find it infinitely encouraging to read the words of Mary when confronted by the terrifying image of the Angel of God with his impossible message to her:
"I am the Lord's hand maiden."

I sit by my Christmas tree with the angel glowing atop it and watch the continuing torrent outside, falling like blessings upon the earth. As Christmas approaches, my prayer for me, my family, my friends, and all of you is that the message of God reaches our ears. Then, may we, like Mary, bow in humility and echo, "Thy will be done."

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Then Mary said, Behold, I am the handmaiden of the Lord; let it be done to me according to what you have said. And the angel left her. (Luke 1:38 AMP)

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