belief

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

Filled with the Holy Spirit, Elizabeth's responds to Mary with these words as they share in the excitement of their pregnancies. Both chosen by God to fulfill big time callings. To be the mothers of John the Baptist and Jesus. Elizabeth in her old age, and Mary a virgin. Both seemingly impossible by human standards. Both filled with awe and wonder. And belief. 

Would you believe it if an angel appeared to you to proclaim your divine calling? How would you react?

In disbelief like Zechariah? Or like Joseph, wanting to flee from the relationship in fear of what people would think of your wife being pregnant before marriage?

Or do you chose to believe, and trust in the promises of God. 

We all have a big role to play in God's story. Each character is equally important. Zechariah was silenced for months because of his disbelief and could not speak until the baby was born- having to see to believe. Matthew tells us that an angel came to visit Joseph to talk him out of plans to divorce Mary- for this baby was going to save people of their sins! Wowza- right!

Are we allowing our disbelief to silence us?

Are we ready to walk fully in the plans that God has for us, or are we too worried about what other people might think?

It may be scary. We may not have all the answers upfront, but maybe God is waiting for us to fully believe to reveal all He has planned.

To believe that His thoughts are higher than our thoughts (Isaiah 55:9), and that He created good works in advance for us to do (Ephesians 2:10). To believe that He is the God of Heaven and Earth and able to do immeasurably more than we ask or imagine (Ephesians 3:20). 

How cool is that! How much burden does that take off of us? Let's throw away the stress and worrying about making all the right moves to be where we want to be in 10 years etc. and start with saying- yes God, I believe in you and all that you have for me! And there, in the surrender, we find our voice.

For no word from God will ever fail.

Luke 1:37

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[update]: Just read some much more eloquent thoughts from Justin Fung on this same story and doing the impossible with God here. Good stuff!