Saturday, July 28, 2012

A Woman Who Trusts in the Lord




The kids love playing dress up. There is a trunk in our living room that holds a treasure trove of old worn-out dress shirts, hats, and costumes. Some days, the kids are princesses and a knight. Others, they dress up like what they want to be when they grow up.  

Acting out the Nativity, the girls cover their heads with table cloths and my Little Man holds a hockey stick for a staff.

When my Bright Girl was a preschooler, I took her to the park to swing, and there was a muslim woman with a silken head covering, swinging her child. 

Bright girl took one look at the woman and shouted, 
"Look Mama!  She looks like Mary." 

The sweet woman understood and smiled.

Mary was an average, ordinary girl who went about her daily tasks of helping her mother care for their home. Yet, she was a woman who trusted the Lord.  

The day the angel Gabriel appeared to her, she was understandably frightened. He calmed her by saying "do not fear," and announced to her the wonderful news that she was highly favored by God and chosen to carry the Christ Child.  

Mary humbly accepted, with awe and wonder that God had picked her for such an honor (Luke 1:26-38).

It was chore time in the Griese home. Bright Girl, thinking it was completely logical, tried to get out of helping by saying, "But, Mama, I don't want to be like Martha!"

She was referring to the sister of another Mary who sat at the Lord's feet and listened to His teaching. Martha rushed to make the perfect meal for Jesus. She became so exasperated Mary wasn't helping that she cried, "Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself?  Tell her to help me!"

But, the Lord answered by gently telling Martha she was "worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed.  Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken from her (Luke 10: 38, 41, 42, NIV, emphasis mine)."

Mary, sister of Martha, was in awe of Jesus. She feared the One who could wake the dead and give sight to the blind. Yet, she sensed His goodness and love and wanted to be near Him.  To be near Him is the one thing she desired.  She put Christ first above all else.

Martha learned a thing or two after this. Their brother, Lazarus was deathly ill and Jesus was about two days journey away. She sent a messager to ask Jesus to come right away and heal her brother. But, Jesus stayed. For two more days.  And, her brother died.

When Jesus arrived at their house, Lazarus had already been dead four days. Martha was the first to go out and meet Jesus. She wondered why he had not come to heal her brother. But, then with awe and wonder she boldly implored Jesus. "I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask. (John 11: 22, NIV)"

She knew Christ could do the miraculous, even raise the dead, and so she asked.  Jesus gave her the desire of her heart.

It wasn't a moment later that the tomb was opened and Lazarus walked out.

Humble acceptance, holy devotion, bold faith. These are the marks of a woman who trusts in the Lord.

May we all experience God in wisdom and in truth, receiving His gifts, seeking His face, and crying out for the grace that we so desparately need, becoming women who hear and trust the Lord.

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