Here we are, half way through the 12 days of Christmas.  Today I want to write about the shepherds in Luke 2:8-20. Two things stand out to me about the shepherds in the Christmas story.

First is that they were just going about their jobs, doing their everyday, same routine when God interrupted them. It is encouraging to me to know that God can connect with me anytime, anywhere, no matter what I’m doing. I don’t have to be on a spiritual retreat to hear from God, or I don’t have to be in a specific church service with a specific preacher speaking either.  In the middle of my ordinary, normal, sometimes boring life, God can speak and work.

Second is that God chose to announce the birth of His son to shepherds, who were considered fairly low on the social status scale in their society as opposed to the elite A-list crowd of that day. You don’t have to ‘be’ anyone ‘special’ for God to notice you or to speak to you.  This one is huge. I wish everyone would understand this point.  My husband is a pastor and he has had more than one person come to him over the years asking him what God is telling him that they should be doing about something in their lives. For real. People think that pastors, spiritual, or religious people have an ‘in’ with ‘the big guy’.

My husband spends a lot of time in prayer and studying the bible.  He’s blessed with the opportunity to spend a lot of time doing those things.  What I love is when he tells me that God spoke something into his heart while doing things like, cutting the grass or driving his motorcycle, or walking to pick up the mail. God is in the everyday, normal, sometimes boring things that are a part of our lives.

It’s the same for me too. Over the course of my life so far, my personal encounters with God have most often happened in the middle of doing some normal things like laundry, or shovelling snow off a driveway or rocking a crying baby late at night.

You don’t have to be somebody important in society, or be doing some ultra-religious task to hear from God.  But when He speaks, I hope you’re listening.

The shepherds heard the message delivered to them by angels and then they hurried off to find Mary and Joseph and Jesus. They were moved to action by the message from God. I guess that’s the third thing that’s standing out to me about the shepherds.  Ordinary guys, doing their ordinary normal thing, who were moved to action when they heard the message from God.

Listen for God in your life. You’ll never know when He’s about to prompt your heart or whisper something to you. I’m glad the shepherds heard the message that was meant for them that night and am happy for the blessing they received being some of the first to meet Jesus in person. You just never know what God has in store for your life each day.

So stick with the ordinary, everyday, normal things that are a part of your life, no matter if you’re a somebody, or if you think you’re a nobody.  Every person is important to God and if we’ll listen, He will speak into our lives too.

Be blessed.

As I continue to journey through the Christmas story in the Bible over 12 days this month, it’s interesting and revealing to try and look at things through someone else’s eyes. Today I want to look at Joseph, to look at not only the man, but also at the unlikely situation he found himself in.

What’s a man to do when he finds out the woman he’s engaged to is pregnant and they haven’t been intimate with one another?  That’s the heart-wrenching dilemma Joseph found himself in.

Joseph is a man with strength of character. I say this because, even though his heart has been ripped out with the thought of betrayal when he finds out Mary is pregnant, he doesn’t lash out in anger and he doesn’t publicly humiliate Mary.

Matthew 1:19 says that Joseph had decided to divorce Mary quietly. We all know the rest of the story. Gabriel appears to Joseph in a dream and fills him in on what’s really going on with Mary and Joseph takes Mary to be his wife, but what I was struck by as I read Joseph’s part in the Christmas story is how he had decided to handle the situation before God intervened and filled him in.

There are some days that I’m amazed at how people lash out at each other.  How hurtful and mean people can be.  When someone has been hurt, it seems to be a natural response to hurt back. Social media has made it very easy to embarrass or humiliate another person without actually having to see them face to face.

Sometimes the hurt is real. But today, seeing as I’m looking at Joseph, I want to specifically look at perceived hurts.  Joseph looked at the situation, jumped to his own conclusion (granted it was a very logical conclusion), and started to make plans to act based on what he thought the situation was.

Unless we take the time to investigate a situation for ourselves with a measure of restraint and self-control, we run the risk of jumping to conclusions about things in our own lives and possibly getting the story wrong.  Further, if we lash out in anger before we have the real story about what’s happened, we put our relationships with others at risk of damage and we can end up looking foolish ourselves.

Retaliation doesn’t make sense to me. Justice makes sense, but that’s a whole other topic for another day.  I’m sure we’ll get to that topic sometime.  But inflicting hurt on someone else because they’ve hurt you – what is the real point of that?  The result is at least two people who are hurt.  With the ease of social media, it’s simple to inflict hurt. What’s not as simple is fixing it afterwards.

Choose your words carefully.  Measure your responses, use self-control especially when you find yourself in a situation that makes you angry or upset. Sometimes saying (or typing!) nothing is a better way to go until you’ve had time to cool down and maybe make sure you have the story right about what’s happening.

Joseph showed incredible strength of character by not lashing out and publicly humiliating Mary immediately when he learned that she was pregnant.  It’s probably a part of his character that made God choose Joseph for the important role he was to take on in the Christmas story.

The other thing I noticed about Joseph’s response is that he did not gather a bunch of his friends to rant about what Mary had done. He didn’t talk to other people to get their opinions and ‘advice’ on what he should do.  Sometimes, bringing other people into a situation only adds fuel to your fire.  I’m not saying that  we shouldn’t ask for help, but I am saying be VERY careful who you approach for opinions and advice when you’re upset.  It’s a good idea to confide in someone you trust, but make sure it’s someone who can help you try to find balance and can help you look at things objectively as opposed to someone who will jump on the rant band wagon with you.

By the way, it’s a good idea to find the people who can help you when you’re upset BEFORE you’re upset. Work not just at finding a friend or two who could be a real help to you, but also try and be that kind of friend yourself.

This is what I’m learning from Joseph today. I hope it helps someone else too.  Be blessed.

Mary.  From the moment when Gabriel first appeared to Mary with the news that she would have a son, Mary believed the impossible.  Her response to Gabriel in Luke 1:38, “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered.  “May your word to me be fulfilled.”, reveals both her faith in God and her resolve to serve God.

There is so much I can learn from Mary. She accepted the message Gabriel gave to her, a message that had the potential to cost Mary her engagement to Joseph or to any other man. A message that carried the probability to cause her to be a social outcast in her community for the rest of her life, and a message that could likely cause her to be ostracized from her own family. Yet, she accepted that message willingly anyway.

Despite the possible personal costs and hardships that could be coming her way, in Luke 1:46-55 Mary is singing a song full of joy and gratitude. Here is what she sang:

Mary’s Song

⁴⁶ And Mary said:

“My soul glorifies the Lord
⁴⁷     and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
⁴⁸ for he has been mindful
of the humble state of his servant.
From now on all generations will call me blessed,
⁴⁹     for the Mighty One has done great things for me—
holy is his name.
⁵⁰ His mercy extends to those who fear him,
from generation to generation.
⁵¹ He has performed mighty deeds with his arm;
he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts.
⁵² He has brought down rulers from their thrones
but has lifted up the humble.
⁵³ He has filled the hungry with good things
but has sent the rich away empty.
⁵⁴ He has helped his servant Israel,
remembering to be merciful
⁵⁵ to Abraham and his descendants forever,
just as he promised our ancestors.”

Here is Mary choosing to focus on the wonderful things God is doing and has done, focusing on the positives and not the negatives and focusing not on herself but on someone else (God).  This is a huge lesson for me to learn.

I’m a detail person. I like to know – in advance – what is going to happen and how it’s going to work out. Moving forward into anything new in my life without knowing the details can cause me to stress, worry and be anxious about the details that I don’t know yet.  Here’s what I’m seeing in Mary though. She accepted God’s word and she accepted that God was going to look after the details. She found peace and contentment knowing that God was looking after all the details. If Mary could do that in her situation, I should be able to as well in my own life.

The book of Philippians in the Bible is one of my favourites.  In chapter 4 verses 4 through 9 the apostle Paul says,

⁴ Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! ⁵ Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. ⁶ Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. ⁷ And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

⁸ Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. ⁹ Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.

To sum up what Paul is saying in these verses – be joyful and gentle, when you start to feel anxious or stressed give the situation to God in prayer and He will give you His peace. Think about things that are excellent and praiseworthy and let these types of things be the focus of your thoughts.

It’s easy to look at these verses and think that it’s too simplistic. Given the scope and size of the difficulties we face, it should be much more difficult to find peace and contentment, but in reality, if we are willing to accept God at His word – and that’s what the Bible is, God’s word – just like Mary accepted God’s word, then we can have the peace, contentment and joy that Mary had even when facing some of the most trying and challenging situations.

The key is being willing to accept God at His word just like Mary did, no matter what we’re facing.

I hope this helps someone today. Be blessed.

Today I want to look at Elizabeth, Zechariah’s wife, and the mother of John the Baptist.

Luke 1:6 describes Elizabeth as righteous in the sight of God, observing all the Lord’s commands and decrees blamelessly. Talk about a Godly woman.

As I have studied Elizabeth the fact that she was married to a priest struck a chord of familiarity with me as I too, am married to a minister. Also like Elizabeth, I was told years ago by doctors that I would  not be able to conceive and have children. While my two daughters don’t have a ‘John the Baptist’ calling on their lives, they are my miracle babies nonetheless.

I’ve been trying to put myself in Elizabeth’s place, in her skin so to speak.  Thinking about what I would do, or how I would react, if my husband went to church and came home unable to speak.  At least in this century, paper and pen are easily found, computers are readily available and cell phone texting would all make communicating with someone who couldn’t speak much easier, but Elizabeth & Zechariah didn’t have things like we do now.

According to scripture it seems like they had been married for quite a while when this event of Zechariah losing his speech and Elizabeth becoming pregnant happened.  What a wild year that would have been in their home.

In my imagination, I wonder if they played some kind of crazy charades game to try and communicate, or if Zechariah was able to get what happened to him and what was revealed to him through to Elizabeth or not. They would have had to develop a whole new way to communicate, through gestures, touch, through emotion or by looking into each other’s eyes.

It would have developed a whole new level of closeness and intimacy in their relationship as Zechariah would have been more dependent on Elizabeth and Elizabeth would have needed to become more in tune with Zechariah’s needs.

As I have been meditating on this and considering the relationship between Zechariah and Elizabeth, I find myself also thinking about my own marriage. Am I the kind of wife that could be described the way Elizabeth was described in Luke 1:6? Am I the kind of wife that could handle drastic changes with grace and even rejoicing like Elizabeth did (see Luke 1:41-45) extending hospitality to others during challenging times like Elizabeth did while coping with a husband who couldn’t communicate and a pregnancy.

I’ve also been thinking about how the challenges they faced would have brought Zechariah and Elizabeth closer together as a couple. While most people do not like challenges, there can be positive things that come out of challenging times.

I love that the bible gives us the stories of the lives of real people that we can relate to so we can learn from their lives.

Looking at Elizabeth, I’ve come to a few conclusions. Here they are:

–          Elizabeth was a woman devoted to her husband. She stood with him throughout the time he wasn’t able to speak (a disability) with tremendous grace.

–          Elizabeth was an example to the women in her community of how to be a Godly woman and a Godly wife and her example lives on to today for us to learn from.

–          Elizabeth was able to rejoice through the challenge – she was happy about her pregnancy as late in life as it happened all while her husband still had his disability

–          Elizabeth was not so caught up in her own life that she missed what was happening to others around her. She rejoiced with Mary about Mary’s pregnancy and recognized that the child Mary was carrying was from God as well.

If I’m to learn anything from Elizabeth and how she lived her life through this period of time it would be the following:

–          As a married Christian woman, I need to make sure my heart is devoted to my husband and I need to be supportive of him through all the seasons of life.

–          My life and the way I live it out each day sets an example to those in my community of what a Godly woman and a Godly wife looks like. I need to make sure I’m setting a good example.

–          Even when facing life’s challenges, I need to be able to rejoice in the Lord, to find my joy in the Lord and to face challenges with grace and humility.

–          I need to be more focused on God than on myself and more concerned about those around me than myself so I don’t miss what is truly important in this life. Also by not being solely focused on me and concerned about myself  I have less of a chance of thinking more highly of myself than I should (pride), or of feeling that I need to have a pity party for myself when life gets tough.

Elizabeth is an amazing example of what a Godly woman looks like.  We are blessed by having her life as an example to learn from.  I hope this helps someone today.

Be blessed!

As we are just days before Christmas I thought I would dedicate twelve posts in the month of December to the people and elements in the biblical Christmas story. Each one of the 12 posts will focus on one person or element of the story.

With today being the first day, I thought I would start with the first person mentioned in Luke 1 relating to the biblical Christmas story – Zechariah.

Zechariah is fascinating to me because it’s a story of how God is faithful even when we have doubts.

Zechariah’s story is found in Luke 1:5-25. This passage tells us that Zechariah was a Levite, a priest and the husband of Elizabeth. Both Zechariah and Elizabeth are described as being “very old” and they were childless.

Zechariah was chosen to go into the temple of the Lord to burn incense and while he was doing that, the angel Gabriel appeared to him and told Zechariah that he and his wife Elizabeth were going to have a son. Zechariah was uncertain about the news Gabriel delivered to him and this is the point in the story where I have spent time meditating and praying.

After Zechariah asks Gabriel, “How can I be sure of this?” Gabriel tells Zechariah that because he did not believe Gabriel’s words, Zechariah would be unable to speak until John was born.

As I read this passage in Luke, Hebrews 11:6 ran through my head – “And without faith it is impossible to please God”. This was not an easy thing that Zechariah was told by Gabriel. Elizabeth is past her child-bearing years and she had never conceived a child. What Gabriel told Zechariah would happen seems to be an impossibility to Zechariah. Even with an angel physically standing in front of Zechariah – which I would think would be cause to believe, although I haven’t experienced seeing an angel – he has doubts that he and Elizabeth will have a son as Gabriel is saying.

I have been a Christian for over 30 years and I have seen God do some amazing things during that time, yet I still struggle sometimes with doubt. Even with starting this blog, I have struggled with doubt. Through prayer and meditation I have felt that I am supposed to be writing and that this blog is one of the places I am to write. Yet I still struggle with doubt.  I have had doubts about being able to write anything that anyone will want to read, doubts about being able to handle the technology learning curve of managing a blog, doubts about how I will find the time in my already busy schedule to write, and doubts about being able to come up with relevant topics for a blog.  There have been some days where I have felt overwhelmed and consumed with doubt.

Yet, God is faithful to complete what He starts in spite of our doubts. As I write this post about Zechariah, I’m seeing the blog site starting to come together. I’m learning how to do things I never thought I’d be able to figure out and I’m finding ways to create time to write. As I walk this journey of faith wrapping up the year of 2013, I am amazed at what God has done in my life and in those who are close to me.  I’m pretty sure if I’d been told ahead of time all that God would do in my life this year, I would very likely have doubted and been just like Zechariah. And just like God did for Zechariah, working through him in spite of his doubt, God has done and is doing the same for me.

What I think is key in Zechariah’s story is that even though he doubted what Gabriel had told him, he still went home to his wife Elizabeth and together, they made a baby. Zechariah, even with his doubts took a step of action – and that’s faith in action.

I think taking action, taking that first step, and moving in the direction we’re being led, is the key to the miracle.  There have been a few times in my life where I’ve dismissed something because I felt I couldn’t do it. You know the excuse – ‘Oh I could never do that!’ When God prompts us to do something – and we don’t do it – we miss miracle opportunities.

I’m so thankful that God continues to work through us and in us even when we have doubts.  He is a God of miracles.

The Christmas season is a time when we celebrate the miracle birth of Jesus Christ. I would encourage you this Christmas season to spend a few moments thinking about the miracle we celebrate at Christmas and thinking about Zechariah’s story.  And, I pray that you would have the courage to act without doubt in whatever the Lord is leading you to do – but if you still have doubt, then I pray that you will have the courage to act and take that first step in faith anyways!

Be blessed!