But Mary treasured all these things in her heart and often pondered what they meant. Luke 2:19 TPT
I can’t believe that the Christmas Season is almost over and a new year is just around the corner. This is one of my favorite verses, because it’s about events good and bad that happened and not only remembering them, but considering what they were saying while pointing to her future.
And there was a lot to consider, like how she felt when the angel came and told her life as she knew it and hoped it would be, was going to be totally different. What did it mean for God to place her in a position where she could be killed according to Jewish Law for becoming pregnant outside of marriage with a baby that wasn’t her fiances? Or that she would be making a long hard trip while at the end of her pregnancy. That Joseph had a visit from an angel too, and it changed his mind from sending her away to marrying her. That she would deliver her first born son in a barn and used a manger as a cradle, only for shepherds come and bow down and worship her baby after being visited by angels. To later have to flee to Egypt from the tyrant Herod to escape Jesus being killed. To return to Nazareth then back to Behtlehem only to be visited by Magi, who followed a star to find Him.
This has been a year that I believe we need to ponder in our hearts. We need to seek the Lord and ask Him what we need to learn from the events we experienced, both good and bad. God wants us to live life on purpose, not by accident. He wants us to know that truly All things work together for those that love Him (Rom. 8:28) and that even evil intent will have to take a knee to the overcoming power of God to use it to bring about even greater blessings (Gen. 50:20).
Let’s decide not to leave 2020, only seeing the bad. Let’s realize that with our awesome God we will see that He will give us beauty for ashes of the dreams and hopes destroyed by COVID-19. Blessings instead of mourning, because He is a God of resurrection and restoration. And then praise instead of despair, because praise is the key that unlocks us from the prisons the enemy wants us to remain in. Yes, decide to end the year “pondering” the events of the past year to see how God will lead us into a glorious new year and future.
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