Christmas Superwoman

Can you find the Superwoman in this picture?

That's right... she's the only woman IN this picture.  She's Mary!

Over the past couple of weeks I have been thinking especially about the qualities of a woman who fears God... and one of the first woman from the Bible who came to mind is Mary.  Sure, we don't have the play-by-play description of Mary's everyday life the same way we have the Proverbs 31 woman, but the Bible tells us so much about who Mary was, and she's actually a very relevant example for women today!

Let's take a look at Luke 1.  Reading even just verses 26-26, we can get a solid picture of who Mary was. 

She was young.  Unmarried.  Engaged.  Probably only 12 or 13 years old!  But she loved the Lord and feared God.

When the angel first appeared to Mary, her immediate reaction was to DISCERN "what sort of greeting this might be."  This girl was discerning!  She had Biblical wisdom and humility, and was applying it to her life!

We know what happens: the angel tells Mary she will have a son who will be the Son of God, the Savior of the World.  He will be called Emmanuel, God with us.  Put yourself in Mary's shoes.  What an overwhelming gift!  What a responsibility!  She, a young teenager, was to carry the Messiah that she and her people had been waiting for for generations upon generations!! 

But there's a huge catch.  Her life will never be the same.  She's not yet married, and she'll be pregnant.  What will Joseph think?  And everyone else??  If Joseph leaves her, they'll think she cheated and she could be killed.  If he doesn't, everyone will look down on both of them!  She'll have a baby, and she'll have to take care of Him.  And her baby won't be like the others... her baby will be God!  I think many of us would see this as God "ruining our lives."

I'm sure all of this flashed through Mary's mind.  And what is her reaction?  Panic and say no?  Absolutely not!  She says,

"Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; Let it be to me according to your word."

That word servant??  She's saying slave!!  Doulos Kurios... slave of the Lord!  Here to serve!

What if we modeled ourselves after Mary?  In complete surrender to the will of the Lord, given over to whatever He has for our lives.  How would we live?  How much peace would we have?  How ready would we be for anything and everything?  She's got that ATAPAT (anytime, anyplace, anything) attitude.  She's such a role model!

Did you know she also wrote worship songs? Yup, this girl did it all!  Here's part of Mary's Song of Praise:

 

My soul magnifies the Lord,
and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant.
For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed;
for he who is mighty has done great things for me,
and holy is his name.

Amen!!

Who you gonna call?

A lot of stuff feels like it went wrong today.

First thing I wake up to is my mom telling me our garage is flooded.  This has happened before when heavy rainstorms come, but we usually have the men with us to help.  This time, my dad and brothers aren't here.
So now my mom is spending hours trying to get sandbags, and wants me to rest instead of help because I'm sick.  
I have a doctors appointment to go to so I can get meds before we leave.
We're not packed.  We have presents to wrap.
Hours go by.  Still no sandbags.  We find out we have a huge hole in the fence in our property from the storm, adding a bunch of complications in regards to where our dogs will be for the next week.  My prescription isn't being filled. 

Every reason to panic...  And with the pressure of leaving tomorrow, what should be our reaction?

Prayer. 

I prayed, my mom prayed, our friends prayed for us, a random stranger prayed with my mom in Lowe's (totally a God thing!), we prayed for each other... and GUESS WHAT.  Surprise!  Our prayers were answered.  Everything worked out.  Our flooding issue is now fine, our dogs will be alright, I got my prescription filled. 

One of my favorite verses is Philippians 4:6-7 says

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.  And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

What a promise!! And there are more:

Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known. (Jeremiah 33:3)

Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer; you shall cry, and he will say, "Here I am."  (Isaiah 58:9a)

"He will call upon me and I will answer him; I will be with him in times of trouble and rescue and honor him."  (Psalm 91:15)

These are only a few, but the point is clear.  When things go wrong, who you gonna call??  Call on the Lord!!

Why "Background"?

Play the Background.

Not an appealing thought.   No up-and-coming recording artist really wants to sing background vocals.  No kid wants to be cast as the "tree" in their third grade musical. Nobody wants to be that person in the group project that does all the work but gets none of the credit.

Everyone wants the solo.  Everyone wants the lead.  Everyone wants to be seen and heard and recognized, liked and respected and praised.

Except... we're not everyone, right?  Christians are different.  We have different goals, different desires, different reasons for living.  We're living for the glory of God, for His return, to spread His Word and make disciples.  2 Corinthians 5:17 says that those who are in Christ are new creations, my old self has been replaced.  So if I'm living like everyone else, trying to get praise and respect and admiration, how can I say I'm simultaneously living for God?

As many of you may know, my favorite rapper-theologian Lecrae has a song off his last album titled "Background."  Go listen to it! Of course it's rap, so the grammar isn't fantastic (hahaha), but meditate on the meaning... it's so worth it :)

"So if you need me I'll be stage right,
Prayin' the whole world will start embracing stage fright.
So let me fall back and stop giving my suggestions
Cuz when I follow my obsessions I end up confessing
That I'm not that impressive, matter fact I'm who I are:
A trail of star dust leading to the superstar."

I'm writing this blog about playing the background because that's exactly what I want to do.   I don't want to be known as any of the things I am (singer, actress, student, daughter, friend) unless I'm known FIRST as a a Christian, a Christ-follower, a theophobe.  When people look at me, I want them to see God first, and I'll be the background.