Hmmm.... seems like the last time I posted was.... almost 6 weeks ago. And, it's not because I didn't want to, but it's been a very busy season around here.
About this time last year, I had a posting about a message I had heard, based
upon a book I had read (and re-read), by Jack Hayford (The Mary Miracle*). I heard the broadcast again this morning. And I thought back to 'where' I was last year and I truly marvel at how God's Divine Design has played out in my life over the past year.Hayford recounted that several years ago, he was very 'busy' and it came to Christmas Eve, and he didn't have his sermon prepared for the church service. He says he was praying and asked God for a 'word', and God spoke to him saying... "Tell them I wish them a Mary Christmas", ... and the sermon, and subsequent short book, was birthed.
I can't adequately capture the essence of Hayford's message, but it is certainly one of encouragement, hope and joy. In Luke 1:37, the angel tells Mary,... "For nothing is impossible with God." Hayford says that the implication is that no word of God is absent of the power to bring it to pass. He emphasizes that what God did for, in, and through Mary, He will do for, in and through you and me.
It's significant that the miracle isn't only about a virgin conceiving a child. It's about God Himself entering into the midst of our situation, to bring whatever salvation we need to us. Right here, right now. Like a pregnancy, His plan may take a while to grow and develop. For a while, you don't see any 'evidence' of the miracle, and as time passes, you get stretched to the limit. The process of giving birth is hard work, and often intense, seeming to 'take forever'. Yet, God rhetorically says, " Do I bring to the moment of birth and not give delivery?" (Isaiah 66:9). He will 'deliver the goods', again.
So, as I extend my most sincere wishes for a blessed and happy Christmas season, this year I once again wish you a Mary Christmas.
*The book is published under two titles: The Mary Miracle and The Christmas Miracle.
