I will share about Christian books I have read or listened to.
I will be sharing about my life before and after Christ. I will include stories about my pet and other pets I have encountered.
Trusting God’s Story
Imagine Mary and Joseph getting ready to become parents. They probably asked a lot of the same questions expectant parents do today: Is the baby healthy? Are we prepared to care for this child? Where will we have the baby? Are we ready for the birth?
Near the end of Mary’s pregnancy, Caesar Augustus issued a decree that everyone within the Roman world return to their hometown for a census (Luke 2:1-4). This meant that Mary and Joseph had to leave their home in Nazareth to take the four-day journey to Bethlehem, the city of David, who was Joseph’s ancestor.
Because of the census, Bethlehem’s inns were full of people making the journey home. And so, when the time came, Mary gave birth to Jesus in the only place available to them: a stable. She placed him in a manger—a feeding trough—because that’s all there was. Surely this was not the birth that Mary would have planned for her firstborn child.
And yet, it was exactly what God had ordained. God showed us a lot about His Kingdom through the circumstances around the birth of His Son.
He showed us that Jesus is humble. Jesus was born in a stable and placed in a manger. The King of all Creation, yet such a humble beginning.
He showed us that the Kingdom of God is accessible. This King wasn’t tucked away in a castle or a mansion, separated from His people and surrounded by luxuries—shepherds and wise men alike were able to come visit Him.
He showed us that we can trust the story. Mary had to trust God’s story. Joseph had to trust God’s story. Imagine how the story would have been different if Mary and Joseph had demanded that room be made for them in an inn, shouting, “This is the Messiah, people! Make room!” But they didn’t do that. They accepted the situation in front of them, trusting God’s story regardless of how strange or undesirable the setting seemed.
And from that surrendered posture and strange set of circumstances, God brought forth His Son, exactly as He had planned.
We can trust the story because God is the Author. Jesus’ humble birth was not an accident—it was a message, a picture to all of us of what God’s Kingdom is truly like. It’s also an invitation for us to surrender our plans, our ideas of how the story should be, and trust the trustworthy hand of God in our lives. We can trust God.
Joy in Hard Times
Nobody enjoys suffering. It’s hard to find joy in the midst of trials or difficult seasons—it’s much easier to feel sadness or misery.
That’s why Paul’s encouragement in Romans 5 may sound contradictory. Paul was writing this to the church in Rome experiencing suffering from ungodly rulers, and yet he encourages them to rejoice in their suffering.
It wasn’t enough to just endure suffering—he tells them to have joy. Paul knew that it wasn’t natural to be joyful in hard times, but through the work of Jesus, Christians have peace with God and access to faith (Romans 5:1-2). Faith allows us to hold onto the hope that suffering isn’t the end of our story.
Because we know that God works within our difficult situations, we can have patience and perseverance for God to complete His work. Perseverance refines our character. As we wait on God, we become people who look more like Jesus, and our trust in God grows stronger. This increases hope within us.
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