Luke 1:45 “Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her!”

I don’t know how many times I’ve written on this verse, but it’s a lot. Even so, it still hits me every time I read it. I have been critical of Oral Roberts famous saying, “God said it. I believe it. That settles it,” maintaining that it should be, “God said it. That settles it.” However, this verse gives credence to Oral Roberts’ version, because there are many things we can’t appropriate until we believe them. Faith certainly brings blessings! Mary’s pregnancy was not the result of “spiritual rape,” but of her accepting in faith that God was going to do miraculous things through her. That’s one of the reasons the vast majority of the promises in the Bible are conditional. If we don’t believe them enough to fulfill the conditions, we won’t enjoy the blessings! God told Jeremiah something very pointed: “Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who draws strength from mere flesh and whose heart turns away from the Lord. That person will be like a bush in the wastelands; they will not see prosperity when it comes. They will dwell in the parched places of the desert, in a salt land where no one lives. But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord,  whose confidence is in him.” (Jeremiah 17:5-7) In other words, prosperity will come, but you’ve got to trust God to see it. Mary was a beautiful example of faith, on every level. She was understandably nervous, but she trusted God anyway. The choice to trust was probably a daily activity! Once Joseph committed himself as her husband that probably settled down a good bit, but even so , there were countless unknowns. We too don’t know what tomorrow will hold. However, we too have God’s promises to us, as recorded in the Bible. We probably haven’t had direct angelic visitations the way Mary did, but the promises are just as valid. We don’t know all the details along the way, but we do know our final destination is absolutely glorious. As Paul said, “For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.” (2 Corinthians 4:17) We just need to trust God and enjoy the journey.

As I keep referencing, God told me several years ago to rest, relax, and rejoice in Him. I’m still learning to do that! Yesterday was a very busy day, with the service in the morning and Christmas caroling in the evening, with neighborhood trash duty thrown in in the afternoon for good measure. However, it all went very successfully. I am particularly blessed by how blessed the last two homes were where we caroled. Both are church members. One is a very faithful older couple who don’t come out at night any more. They were floored and delighted that we showed up at their house. The other is an even older man whose wife passed a few years ago, who hasn’t come to the church building in a couple of years, but who listens online every week. He was moved to tears! As it happens, he was born in Taipei, and we had missionaries from Taiwan in our group. They were mutually excited and delighted! And then, as we do every year, we ended up with supper at a particular noodle restaurant and sang for them after we ate, and the staff was utterly delighted! To be honest, having that done and out of the way for another year is a huge relief for me, but the rewards were real, and beautiful. I need to keep trusting God in obedience, through the Christmas Eve candlelight service and the New Year’s Eve watchnight service, knowing that He will bring blessing to us and glory to Himself, regardless of my strength or endurance.

Father, thank You indeed for all You did yesterday. May I truly believe all that You have said to me, just as Mary did, so that all of Your plans for me may be fulfilled, on Your schedule and for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!