I said \u201cYes\u201d and married an 18-year-old man-child when I was 17. Three months later, the man-child said: \u201cLet\u2019s start our family!\u201d Again, I said \u201cYes\u201d. It was risky to marry so young, but even more risky to bring a baby into this world when we were mere babies ourselves. We didn\u2019t have our maturity, knowledge and wherewithal acts together to take care of ourselves \u2013 never mind taking care of a baby.
But sometimes it takes risk for the greatest rewards. I sit here basking in the rewards I have reaped from my \u201cYes\u201d at my children\u2019s home in Austin while seeing after my two youngest grandsons. I have five other grandchildren on their own \u2013 and I might add their parents, who are doing quite well despite the lack in ability and means of their young parents years ago. It was worth the risk.
Mary could have said \u201cNo.\u201d It would have been the reasonable, safe path to take. After all, who in their right mind would believe that she was pregnant and a virgin? She had no way of proving that she was telling the truth. Saying \u201cyes\u201d to God\u2019s plan for her life meant she risked being stoned to death. Yet she said it. Yes to humiliation. Yes to being misunderstood. Yes to an uncertain and frightening future. I can\u2019t imagine the emotions she felt \u2014 a young girl, being visited by an angel who told her God had chosen her to bear the Savior of the world. A supernatural conception. Who had ever imagined such a thing?
I\u2019m convinced that Mary didn\u2019t understand the magnitude of her \u201cYes.\u201d Or what her future would look like. Lord knows I sure didn\u2019t understand the magnitude of my \u201cYes\u201d. I wasn\u2019t visited by an angel bearing world-changing news back then or even lately, have you?
But that doesn\u2019t mean that God isn\u2019t continually asking us to say \u201cYes\u201d to Him \u2014 in big and small ways throughout our lives. \u201cYes\u201d to a difficult marriage. \u201cYes\u201d to forgiving someone who has hurt us. \u201cYes\u201d to confronting parenting challenges we\u2019d rather ignore. \u201cYes\u201d to thriving \u2013 not just surviving the loss of a spouse or loved one. \u201cYes\u201d to an opportunity He has for us that includes boldness, uncertainty, and risk.
What holds us back from saying \u201cYes\u201d? For many of us, it\u2019s fear. I know that\u2019s the #1 barrier to my ability to say \u201cYes!\u201d to God with gusto. When I said \u201cYes\u201d to teaching Sunday School years ago; \u201cYes\u201d to leading women\u2019s ministries; \u201cYes\u201d to being the keynote speaker at women\u2019s events; \u201cYes\u201d to leading Life Groups. Each \u201cYes\u201d came with angst and uncertainty. But with each \u201cYes\u201d, I became more mature in my walk with God. When I obeyed Him, He was always faithful to equip me and change my heart.
I started out insecure. I felt inadequate. The prospects of failure intimidated me. It would be hard and, bottom line, I didn\u2019t want to do it. But I found out that each \u201cyes\u201d came with the most fulfilling and amazing things I\u2019ve ever done. I didn\u2019t get a visit by an angel. As surely as God choosing Mary to be the mom of Jesus, I know He had a mission in pulling out the best of me \u2013 birthing in me potential and usefulness to His Master Plan.
I know God called me for such a time as this years ago \u2013 even with this daily blog. As Mary and I found out — the good stuff is found in the \u201cYes\u201d. Even when, at times, it\u2019s hard and heartbreaking. We may never know the long-lasting impact of our \u201cYes\u201d to God. Certainly, Mary did not. But I\u2019m so thankful she took the risk. My \u201clittle\u201d YES in comparison to hers seems puny — but not in God\u2019s eyes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Might you say \u201cyes\u201d to God too? \u201cYou\u2019re welcome\u201d to those of you who have been holding out! Just say \u201cYes\u201d! The rewards are so worth it!
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I said \u201cYes\u201d and married an 18-year-old man-child when I was 17. Three months later, the man-child said: \u201cLet\u2019s start our family!\u201d Again, I said \u201cYes\u201d. It was risky to marry so young, but even more risky to bring a baby into this world when we were mere babies ourselves. We didn\u2019t have our maturity,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15300,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[19691,22344,22343,22345],"tags":[1769,1772,22340,12873,14798,40,22342,499,22339,10405,22336,22338,22335,22341,786,22337,3683],"class_list":["post-15299","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-master-plan","category-risky-rewards","category-saying-yes-to-god","category-yes","tag-christian","tag-for-such-a-time-as-this","tag-frightening","tag-humiliation","tag-insecurity","tag-inspiration","tag-just-say-yes","tag-master-plan","tag-misunderstood","tag-rewards","tag-risky-rewards","tag-safe-path","tag-saying-yes-to-god","tag-supernatural-conception","tag-virgin","tag-worth-the-risk","tag-yes"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15299","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15299"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15299\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15301,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15299\/revisions\/15301"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/15300"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15299"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15299"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15299"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}