Happy December! Christmas is on its way and we couldn’t think of a better way to ready our hearts together than by spending the whole month reading through the story of Jesus’ birth and finding some practical ways to love others. Together, we will work through an Advent reading plan provided by LCBC Church through YouVersion. Our prayer is that as you read about the greatest story ever told, your hearts will be readied for Christ’s arrival.
In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”
Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”
John’s mother was the cousin of Mary (the mother of Jesus). Today we find out that about 6 months later – Mary is approached by an angel and she is told that she is pregnant. Great news, but she is a virgin.
Pray
Pray that you can see the plan behind what God is doing in your life. Mary was greatly blessed by this news of carrying Jesus, but it would totally upend her life because people wouldn’t get it. God does stuff like this in our lives routinely – blessings that bring about difficulty (a new job opportunity, a breakup, job loss/gain) – pray that you can see God’s design in the midst of the upheaval it often brings.
Practice
Find a friend to talk to about what your word is. Get it out and just verbalize it to someone – you don’t need to fix it, just get it out.
