Day #3

Wow, Danielle said it in her comment on the "how do I???" post... it is so timely that I started this blog on what, for most of you, is day #3 of the study!!! This is one of my favorite days so far! Right here, tucked into the Christmas story, God gives a lesson on 'girl-friendship.' He knows that these kind of connections are so important to women! How tender, how thoughtful, how... God is it that when He sent Gabriel to tell Mary her life was about to be totally turned upside-down, that the unthinkable was about to happen... he provides for Mary's need to share this with... someone who will believe her, someone who will love her, someone who will understand her, someone someone who will rejoice with her, someone who will bear the difficulty with her... a girlfriend (Elizabeth). It brings tears to my eyes. God designed us woman, He made us in his own image... and part of that is that we are especially RELATIONAL. Girls, He knows our need for girl-friendship. It is an area of our lives that He cares deeply about. Let this passage of what transpired with Mary and Elizabeth be a testimony to that, and, if it is an area of your life where this is some particular lack... pray His word back to him! Like this, "Lord, I see that you know and care about my need for connections with other woman. It is clear to me in this story of how you gave Mary and Elizabeth to each other at such a pivotal time in their lives. God, I need that too! Would you do that for me?" We learned in the Believing God study that putting God's word and prayer together is POWERFUL, like putting two sticks of dynamite together!

Two other things from this day were really special for me-

1. V. 45 says, "Blessed is she who has believed what the Lord said to her will be accomplished." Girls, here is some major motivation to take God at his word! When He speaks to us, and we believe him... HE LOVES IT. He says that when we do that we are BLESSED. Is there anything you are believing God to do, though it seems impossible, though the only reason you are doing so is that it is what you thought you heard from the Lord? Well, God is pleased with you! I am believing God to do what he said, so this was like a little love pat from the Lord!
   
2. One of Beth's questions was, "Has God ever provided you someone to share your joy in the impossible, or understand the peculiar place you find yourself in?" I felt a little stunned as the memory came to me of the day I said good-bye to my little boy. Most of you probably know that I raised a son for one year and then had to say a forever goodbye. No, he didn't die (though, in ways, it was worse then that for me), he was adopted by another family. Letting him go was one of the painful things I can ever imagine experiencing. The memory came to me in response to this question is so serial for me, like slow motion. Someone had given me Beth Moore's book, "Feather's From My Nest." It must have been the day they came and got him. I got in the car and just drove. I found myself in a parking lot, sobbing my heart out. After my body was dried up, I continued to weep, but there were simply no more tears. I picked up the book next to me and read the entire thing. I couldn't believe it. Beth Moore had a son for several years, even adopted him, and then had to let him go to other parents. In that book, it was like she read my emotions. She was candid about that experience, and things she shared hit me... I felt understood, like someone out there 'got' me. The best way to describe it is, I felt comforted. So, how ironic is it that Beth Moore would ask this question, and my answer is, "yes, you!"