My blog title today was inspired by Luke 1:45 \u201cBlessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill His promises to her!\u201d Mary\u2019s cousin, Elizabeth, proclaimed those affirming words to Mary after a long trip from Nazareth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is only 9 days until Christmas AND 15 days until 2024, but who\u2019s counting? This scripture from Luke is packed with promises: Blessed; Believed; Fulfill; Promises. \u201cBlessed\u201d is who Mary was because she “BELIEVED”. \u201cFulfill\u201d says promise kept.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The women of this story, Elizabeth and Mary, in Luke 1:26-45 are two unlikely pregnant ladies \u2014 one too old and the other too young (and unmarried). Despite our heroines\u2019 improbable beginnings, our good God gave them each other. They each played a key role in the Christmas story . Mary carried baby Jesus, and her cousin Elizabeth was expecting John the Baptist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In their first moments together, Elizabeth, inspired by the power of the Holy Spirit, affirms Mary\u2019s calling as the mother of our Savior, finishing with this proclamation: \u201cBlessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill His promises to her!\u201d (Luke 1:45)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mary was blessed because she believed. \u201cBelieving\u201d is the first step to receiving. It is the foundation for \u201cfulfillment\u201d of what we are hoping for. Mary\u2019s belief wasn\u2019t built on her circumstances. It was based on the Baby. Her belief wasn\u2019t focused on a specific outcome (little did she know the pain she\u2019d endure as she followed her Son to the cross). It was founded on the Overcomer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And, THAT should be our mode of operation, too! A co-volunteer met me in our breakroom on Wednesday. This is a gal who is a do-gooder. Last week, she gave us little bags of candy and a Starbucks Gift Card. But this day, she was less than the jolly-gooder the week before. She wasn’t feeling good. That isn’t unusual because she has had many bouts of illnesses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Her belief in her healing has been waning. It was then when I knew God was speaking to my heart to encourage her to BELIEVE. I spoke words of hope and expectation for healing. I prayed with her. Then, remarkably, she starting beaming and scrolled to a song that helps her when she’s not feeling well to encourage me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Our belief shouldn\u2019t be based on what the circumstances look like in our lives right this minute. Our belief should be based on the promises of our Overcomer, our Lord Jesus Christ. Belief is confident resting. Mary\u2019s belief led to confidently resting in her calling to be the mother of our Savior. Just like the order of the words of this scripture \u2013 fulfillment follows belief.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We can confidently rest in God\u2019s promises to never leave us or forsake us and nothing is impossible with Him, even when our outcomes are unsure and our circumstances shaky.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
God\u2019s timing might not be our timing, but He always fulfills His promises when we believe. I\u2019m like a squeaky wheel, but I must reiterate those words again: \u201cBlessed is she (and he) who has believed that the Lord would fulfill His promises to her\/him.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So, when we get the unlikely phone call, when plans fail, when outcomes shift, when healing is delayed and when the dreams in our hearts shatter, we can confidently rest in God\u2019s truth as we BELIEVE that God will FULFILL His PROMISES to us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Christmas Day is just around the corner when we celebrate the ultimate fulfillment of God\u2019s promises \u2014 Jesus. So, turn up the Christmas music. It\u2019s time to celebrate the \u201cBirthday-Boy\u201d and all the hope and joy He brings.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
My blog title today was inspired by Luke 1:45 \u201cBlessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill His promises to her!\u201d Mary\u2019s cousin, Elizabeth, proclaimed those affirming words to Mary after a long trip from Nazareth. It is only 9 days until Christmas AND 15 days until 2024, but who\u2019s counting? This…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":19210,"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":[28730,28729],"tags":[5995,28724,1907,16986,28723,1210,1769,251,5585,1392,3515,23570,3545,28728,40,749,70,19293,542,9194,28,28725,28726,28727],"class_list":["post-19208","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-believed","category-elizabeth-and-mary","tag-believe","tag-believed","tag-blessed","tag-blessed-is-he","tag-blessed-is-she","tag-blog","tag-christian","tag-christmas","tag-elizabeth","tag-facebook","tag-favored","tag-fulfill","tag-fulfillment","tag-heroines","tag-inspiration","tag-jesus","tag-john-the-baptist","tag-luke-145","tag-mary","tag-pregnant","tag-promises","tag-too-old","tag-too-young","tag-unmarried"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19208","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=19208"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19208\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19211,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19208\/revisions\/19211"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/19210"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19208"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19208"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19208"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}