Moving.

I had to share...

This past Sunday I got the privilege to experience something that I want to share.
I've been walking with the Lord now for almost 10 years. And in that time, I've seen many great things and have experienced a great deal of things that God has all orchestrated. Sure what I am about to tell you isn't new. However, this past Sunday it spoke new to me. So much that I want to take the time to share. I am not a preachy person by nature because well, I can pray for you and I do. However if you aren't ready or hearing it then all I can do is pray because if you aren't ready and aren't walking then He'll bring you to Him when you are. I can only live my life according to how the Lord sees fit. But I also can be an instrument to show you where I am in my life so that you can see God's mercy and grace pouring over my life.

Today I'd like to take the time to share with you about a family. This family is exceptional. They are historical actually. They are loved, hated, feared, and misunderstood. And it all starts with a woman named Mary. You see Mary was pretty young although back in the day, being young was okay. And it was even more okay to get married by the time you were 14 or 15 years old, that's how young I'm talking about. One day an angel appeared to Mary and told her that the Holy Spirit was going to give her a baby. You can imagine how Mary felt, or at least we can try to imagine how she must of felt. Her Mary is young. Not married. and is about to have a baby. All she really focuses on is the fact that she doesn't feel worthy, imagine that! But I also believe Mary may of had feelings such as... I am not even married and everyone will judge me. What about the man Joseph that I am betrothed too? What will everyone say, who will believe me? Can you imagine the stress that Mary must of been feeling? I think about that and realize that even though the angel, the H.S. {Holy Spirit}, God and everyone else in Heaven must of been dancing their socks off with excitement! But I would have been horrified. I would have been scared. I would have been worried {because women tend to do that} and I wouldn't of known who the heck was going to believe me. That the H.S. came upon me and a baby was born without even having sex! Poor Mary. I can imagine even though she was so humbled that she must of felt some kind of fear too.. And then to know that her baby would save people! Imagine that.

And Joseph. The man that Mary intended to marry but had found out that she was pregnant and they didn't even have sex! Can you imagine Mary trying to explain this to him? How upset Joseph must of felt? Can you imagine around town having to ward off explanations and try to explain his plight to everyone? I would imagine Joseph really didn't understand. Here he loved this woman, but yet they weren't even married and she was pregnant! I would imagine he must of felt a little let down, not good enough, and lost. So he thinks to himself that he'll quietly divorce Mary because he cannot be married to someone that was already pregnant! Maybe he felt betrayed by her? Maybe he walked around town wondering who the guy was the got Mary pregnant in the first place? Its why he had a dream and was told it was okay. He was told his baby would be named Jesus and he would save people. That it was okay to marry Mary because the H.S. came unto her, not a man. So then the table turns and Joseph realizes Mary wasn't unfaithful, how he must of felt blaming her and others. Then he steps up and is the man he is called to be, but has to deal with others and their mouths knowing that the baby isn't Joseph's... I often wonder if Joseph in his flesh never feels like he measures up.

So from the jumped start Joseph and Mary are judged. Here Mary is 14-15 years old pregnant, not married. Here Joseph has to deal with the outside looking in to something they couldn't possibly understand. They were outcast. Homeless. And I would imagine their support and friends were very few. Imagine family, they might have been torn and there could of been strife.

So they leave. They are homeless. Joseph is poor. Mary is pregnant. They are not free. So they walk. And let me just share with you, that we know that Joseph was poor. No where does it say like the beautiful illustrated Christmas cards out there showing Mary on a donkey and Joseph holding the rope, walking to find a place for Mary to have that baby that Mary is riding on a donkey. They were expensive. Joseph was poor. Mary walked. Some many miles. They both did. I can imagine as they walked the talks they had. "Honey, we're about to have a very important baby, can we measure up?" Or how about Mary and how much she must of been hurting? How slow the entire process must of been because she was pregnant? How many times she stopped to go potty! How about their conversations and flesh? Did they doubt? Was Mary worried because Joseph was so poor? Did Joseph feel the heat because he had to much to take care of? Out there all alone traveling together not really sure of their future. But trusting God.

Now remember Joseph has no money so finding a place for them to go to and have that baby is hard. Where the heck are they going to go. And there isn't wood back in the day that is used for stables. Wood was used for things important like fires. They probably were in a cave like place, not a manger in a stable!!! Imagine that.. A cave.

So... Jesus is born. Into a huge mess. His parents don't have any money. They are tired probably hungry. There was scandal from the jump start about their lives because of Mary being pregnant before even marrying Joseph. They were judge, probably ridiculed too. And here is Jesus. I am sure that his parents were thinking okay.. what just happened? This little baby is coming here to save us, from what, whom?

Then we have the beautiful cards showing Jesus laying in a manger with a halo over his head. I don't know about you, but Jesus is a baby. You cannot tell me for one minute that he didn't cry like one! I bet his parents were stressed. They had no clue how to raise a baby, like most of us were when we first had kids! He cried when he was tired, hungry, and he needed a change. He didn't sit there all quiet and angelic like! I mean.. Jesus was human. A human baby. What baby do you know lays around with a halo over its head glowing never crying?

Here is this little family who's lives are starting off really rocky. They don't have a place to live. They don't have money. They aren't sure what their future holds. And they have the son of God as their son! So Jesus stars his life out born into scandal, strife, oppression. Imagine the grief his parents were feeling!!

Then the Lord speaks to some wisemen. Who by the way we don't know in number that came. But they did, because the Lord spoke to them and they followed the star. These wisemen weren't Jewish, they were pagans. But God used them, just like he used the fishermen or people like you and me. Mean while King Herod ruled and he didn't want anyone to be higher than he was, so he sends these wisemen to "find" Jesus so that Herod could go and worship him too. But Herod didn't really want that, he wanted to kill Jesus. So Joseph, Mary, and baby Jesus flee. They hide. Mary just gave birth and there weren't doctors there to give her a pill to help her with her pain. They fled. Of course I am sure all they were thinking because they were parents it that they must protect their son. Herod never finds them, but in his rage and stupidity has every boy child under the age of 2 killed so that in the even his men happen to come across Jesus he would be killed. But they were gone, and fled remember? So Jesus is safe. For now.

And there starts Jesus' life. Joseph and Mary don't have sex until after Jesus is born and then they start the rest of their family. Jesus grows up with brothers, sisters, and family. And they live. I am sure always wondering when or how the Lord was going to work through Jesus to save God's people. {and their lives as I am always amazed at, is for another time}.

My main point in sharing this is that the birth of Jesus isn't a fairytale with some great and wonderful time. It was hard.

God did this. All of it. God sent his son into the middle of this entire mess for you and I. He loves us that much. So you see their lives weren't the greatest. They had strife. But that's why. We are just like Joseph and Mary in so many ways. But God loved them and used them to show the rest of the world, the you's and me's, that even through the mess that God loves us. Jesus experienced what you and I do daily the minute he was born.

So if you think that you have to have your life completely in order. Think again. If you think that you have to be perfect in order to come to Jesus, think again. No matter where you are in your life Jesus is the one that will lift you up from where you are. That is His purpose. He loves us that much that he is willing to bring us out of where we are in order to find his perfect love!

I am not perfect. I never was. When the Lord tapped my on my shoulder that very day in my room in my apartment I realized there was no more running. That no matter what I did, what I said, how I treated myself or others there was one who would love me unconditionally and completely. Although that day is one of the best in my life, I didn't really allow him to pull me out of the pit and God-shaped hole I was in until 2000. It was then I realized nothing I ever did would measure up, be good enough, or fit what I thought or how I thought He wanted me to be. All he really wanted was to allow him to come into my heart. All he wanted was for me to realize that although my earthly father was not one, He would be. All he wanted was to shower me with love, grace, mercy, friendship, and fun! When I allowed him to come into my heart, he burst open a new Elizabeth. And he took me warts and all.

And friends he will take you warts and all too no matter where you are. So if you ever need to think of a family that had complete and utter turmoil, think of Jesus' family. They are a lot like us...