God With Us

As I have been reading the Christmas story out of Matt 1, I am astounded at what it must have been like for Mary to go through those experiences and to find herself pregnant through the Holy Spirit. Even if I had responded as well to the angel's announcement as Mary did, if it was me, I can just imagine the fear and uncertainty that would run havoc in my mind as the pregnancy started to show. "What now? This is the end of life as I know it. I can never recover from what other people will think of me. I can't escape this situation or its effects for the rest of my life." I think I would have been angry at God, feeling like the life I had planned on was falling apart around me. (maybe there's a good reason God didn't pick me to be Mary!!)

As I come to the Christmas story this season, like all of us I read through the lens of the season I am in, a season where I have been asking God, "Will you lead me into situations where I feel like all my dreams are destroyed? I have committed myself to following you but some days I am terrified of the possible costs."

Yet even in the midst of my fear, I can't help but see and acknowledge the ways that God then proceeds to provide for Mary what she needs. He sends an angel to Joseph instructing him to still take her as his wife, thus ensuring that Mary will be taken care of financially and that she won't face the scorn of the town or the struggles of raising a baby on her own. The book of Luke tells about the sign that God gave Mary to reassure her through her cousin Elizabeth's pregnancy, and the companionship and encouragement that he provided her through her cousin.

Left to myself, I question if God will provide me what I need to survive the dark times--but this story tells me that he will. He is. Even if I don't recognize it in the moment.

Most encouraging, Matthew tells us that Jesus is Immanuel, "God with us." God with us in the midst of questioning. God with us in the midst of suffering. God with us in the midst of the darkness in ourselves and in the world.