I am a singer, songwriter, wife, mother, Jesus follower. I send out a 2-minute read every Tuesday about Jesus and life in God.
3 of 5: The Angel’s Subliminal Hint
Hi Friends,
Over the last three years, I’ve written a lot about “togetherness”—the fact that He gives us a gift in one another. In this season of Advent, as we look into the story of Jesus’ birth, I’m seeing it yet again.
Let’s take a look.
In Luke 1 the angel appears to Mary, a young girl, newly engaged. The news He gives her is stunning. She, a virgin, will bear a child: the Son of the Highest. He will reign as King forever and forever.
And as the angel ends his earth-shattering message, as if giving a subliminal hint, He brings up Elizabeth, Mary’s relative. And then he is gone.
In the hours that follow, I imagine some of the implications are striking Mary. She has much to face in the days to come.
The whispers. The assumptions. The stigma. Her fiancé and family. Her future and reputation. All this mixed in with heart-stopping wonder.
The angel said it: the impossible is being made possible. But who will believe this impossible thing?
This is the part that gets me.
After the angel leaves, it says that Mary hastens to Elizabeth. Another version says she hurried. Yet another: she didn’t waste a minute.
What should we do when we’re given a promise from God? A task so beautiful and terrifying and all-encompassing that we are being asked to put it all on the line to walk it out?
Uncertainty, stigma, accusation.
What should do we do?
Perhaps in Mary we have our answer: we hasten to one another.
In the very moment that Mary stepped foot in Elizabeth’s home, Elizabeth shouted her greeting with arms open and eyes wide, prophesying over the young girl. I can imagine that Mary was strengthened to the core.
She was uncertain still, yes. Foggy on the details and scared. She was many things, but she was not alone.
What a beautiful gift in the middle of it all, this togetherness.
–– Anna
P.S. What impossible thing are you carrying as 2023 comes to a close? Maybe you are believing for a healing, or for a wayward child to come home. Maybe you are facing a season change, and you feel uncertain. Go to your Elizabeth, that person who truly sees you and will believe with faith alongside you. This togetherness is the gift that He gives as we face the impossible.
Anna Blanc
I am a singer, songwriter, wife, mother, Jesus follower. I send out a 2-minute read every Tuesday about Jesus and life in God.
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