My high school was very small compared to those in the surrounding cities. We had 38 kids in my graduating class. There would have been 42, but four had dropped out, including two girls who were pregnant.
I was thinking lately about how hard that must have been for those girls. They had their whole lives ahead of them and had made decisions which put them on a completely different track of life.
I remember one of those girls walking to and from classes while six months pregnant. It was a strange sight, to be honest. We were all just kids, and yet one was already a parent. I know that she was carrying shame around with her. Sadly, she was pointed at, whispered about, and called every horrible name. Eventually she dropped out of school, and I never saw her again.
Then I thought of Mary, a virgin girl with her whole life ahead of her. She had made no bad decisions which caused her pregnancy. She simply found favor with God. He chose her to carry the son of God into this world.
She never asked for that role, but she was given that task because God knew she could handle it. The stress, the looks, the whispers, the rumors, the fear…Mary, did you know that God would choose you to bear His son AND endure the stress of a teenage pregnancy out of wedlock?
Teenagers often get into trouble with poor decisions. But God knew what He was doing with Mary…He was working on a miracle.
Christian, did YOU know that if God has ordered something then it’s worth doing no matter who ridicules it?
dailyarmor.blog 
Excellent devotional meditation Eric – we certainly can never understand the will of God, but only accept it.
Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways!
— Romans 11:33
God bless you today brother 🙏
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I love that verse brother, I was just meditating on it. We have no idea how OR why God does what He does. When I was younger I “called the shots”…now a bit older I realize that He’s called the shots my whole life, I just didn’t realize it back then.
Thank God He has all wisdom and power and might, today…otherwise we’d all be in a dark hole with no way out.
Thanks for your encouragement, brother Alan. Praying for you today!🙏
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Yes! I think of Mary’s plight often during this Christmas season. We often celebrate how honored she was to be chosen as the mother of Jesus, but we forget about the ridicule and shame she must have suffered. She accepted God’s task willingly. I need to remember that God often assigns us tasks that are out of our comfort zone. That is how we grow!
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That’s correct! I have only ever grown in life by doing things I didn’t want to do, or that challenged my comfort zone. Some I did through discipline, like sports…but some were situations I was forced to endure. In hindsight, it’s all good…at the time, it’s difficult stuff!
God bless you today, Heather!
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Your analogies always seem to enhance the message you’re sharing so your readers can relate to it. Fortunately, Mary had the support of Joseph, Elizabeth, and the Lord’s angels. It still must have been extraordinarily difficult for her. 🙂
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Yes Nancy, I can only imagine such difficulty. I’m trying to think through each of the characters involved in the “Christmas story” this week…and how their lives were unwittingly affected by that event.
Thanks for your encouraging words as always. Hope that you have a blessed day and a great week!
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Thanks!
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