By Lynn Cowell
Mary responded, ‘I am the Lord’s servant. May everything you have said about me come true.’ And then the angel left her.” Luke 1:38 (NLT)
Lord, I’m not sure I can take one more rejection.
No. No. No. Every email I received said the same thing, using different words. We don’t publish that type of book. We don’t publish writers we don’t know. We won’t publish you.
Letting each rejection seep into my heart, many days I crawled into bed and cried. Why would God ask me to do something good, yet allow a process that made me feel so bad?
But then I remembered Mary, who was much wiser than I. Her story is found in the Bible. Instead of building her confidence on something she could lose, or have taken away, she built her confidence on God.
Picture this teenager. She’s engaged to a great guy. Wedding plans are in motion. Life is good.
Then suddenly, her happily-ever-after dreams are interrupted by an angel announcing this surprise:
“Good morning! You’re beautiful with God’s beauty, Beautiful inside and out!
God be with you” (Luke 1:28, MSG).
Flattered? Nope. She was scared! However, the angel assures her, “You have nothing to fear. God has a surprise for you. You will become pregnant and give birth to a son and call his name Jesus” (v. 29-33).
My reaction would have been, What? Pregnant? I’m not married yet! There’s no way!
But when Mary received this news, we don’t see fear or doubt. Her response isn’t, “This will be the end of me! What will everyone say about me?”
Mary doesn’t ditch her confidence. Instead, as we find in today’s key verse, her reaction is grounded in faith: “I am the Lord’s servant. May everything you have said about me come true” (Luke 1:38a).
Mary responded with confidence because Mary’s confidence began with her relationship with God.
Not on something, like her reputation. That was outside her control.
Not on someone, like Joseph. For all she knew, he would leave her once he learned she was pregnant.
Not on some place, like her home. Mary actually left town to visit her cousin after she received this news
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