This week, we complete our online study on The Women of Christmas
by Liz Curtis Higgs, with Chapter 8 “Joy of Every Longing Heart.” I hope it has
been an opportunity for you to grow closer to our Lord, and that you have
enjoyed the study as much as I have.
Elizabeth, Mary, and Anna were ordinary women blessed by God because of his goodness and used by God to accomplish extraordinary things. –Liz Curtis Higgs, The Women of Christmas pg. 192 (emphasis mine)
If that sentence didn’t stop you in your tracks, please read
it again.
What do you feel when you read it? I feel hope. I feel
freedom. I feel joy.
Elizabeth, Mary, and Anna were ordinary women…
Ordinary women—like you and me. God chose them not because
of their experience, but because of their faith.
By our standards, they weren’t the perfect ages, but in
God’s plan and for His purpose, they were just the right ages. Age doesn’t
matter. Faith does.
… blessed by God because of his goodness…
Because of HIS goodness—not mine.
God isn’t waiting to see if I can be good enough to be
useful in His plan because He already knows (and so do I) that I can never be
good enough. I can never be perfect. And that’s okay. Because God IS
perfection. And He chooses us because of His
goodness—not ours.
That, my friends, is freeing! And it moves me to tears.
Anyone else?
…and used by God to accomplish extraordinary things.
Elizabeth…Mary…Anna…
Ordinary women who were used by God to accomplish
extraordinary things.
You (insert your name here)…and me…
Ordinary women who will
be used by God to accomplish extraordinary things.
Don’t believe it? Take another look at Elizabeth, Mary, and
Anna.
Or read about the woman at the well who took the Good News
of Jesus back to her town. (John 4:1-42)
Or Mary Magdalene, to whom Jesus first appeared at the empty
tomb. (John 20:1-18)
God can and will use
you…if you let Him.
God’s choice…God’s purpose…God’s goodness…God’s plans.
The question is…
When God calls, how will you answer?
In Christ,
That is encouraging, Laura. I definitely feel ordinary, if even that at times. ha. I like knowing God is the one who makes things happen, and it's not left up to me.
ReplyDeleteLaura, what a way to end this study! I love how God uses the least likely people to accomplish His greater purposes.
ReplyDeleteThanks for linking up with Thought-Provoking Thursday! :)
Hi Laura, this was such an encouraging post, thank you. So glad that God sees more than we do in ourselves and He believes in us the way we are. God bless
ReplyDeleteTracy
Laura,
ReplyDelete"Ordinary women who will be used by God to accomplish extraordinary things." --so encouraging, isn't it?
Thanks for stopping by my post "He Asked Me With His Eyes."
Jennifer Dougan
www.jenniferdougan.com