5 Lessons from Mary Mother of Jesus
What lessons can we learn from Mary the Mother of Jesus? I have found several which we can apply to our lives today.
5 Lessons from Mary Mother of Jesus
These lessons are taken from the Bible in Luke 1:28-44
When we feel troubled, continue trusting in the Lord.
God calls ordinary men and women to do extraordinary things.
It's okay to talk to God and ask questions.
Submit to the Lord with faith.
If you feel alone after the prompting, watch for God to send a second witness.
Invitation
At this holiday season, I invite you to remember our Savior Jesus Christ, and the miracle of his birth and the faith of the women and the men around him. I also invite you to share this with those who may need some inspiration during this holiday season.
I add my witness to that of Mary and Elizabeth and the angel that Jesus is the Son of God.
#tamarakanderson #storiesofhopeinhardtimes #podcast #hope #God #hardtimes #MaryMotherofJesus #Mary #faith #submit #askquestions #ordinarytoextraordinary #Christmasstory #JesusChrist #Christmas #BibleStory
Transcription
You can find the transcription of today's episode here:
Tamara Anderson 0:02
Have you ever sat and really thought about the story of Mary, the mother of Jesus, and how it applies to you? I know as a woman, I've taken the time to think about the story many times, and I'd love to share with you today, some lessons that maybe you thought of before, and maybe you haven't, not only the miracle of them, but how we can apply it to our lives today. Stay tuned.
Tamara Anderson 0:34
Welcome to Stories of Hope in Hard Times, the show that explores how people endure and even thrive in difficult times, all with God's help. I'm your host Tamara K Anderson. Join me on a journey to find inspiring stories of hope and wisdom learned in life's hardest moments.
Tamara Anderson 1:00
Hello, and welcome to another episode of the Stories of Hope in Hard Times podcast. I'm your host, Tamara K. Anderson. And on today's Tamara's takeaway, I'm going to take a little video I made back in December of 2018. And this was right before I launched my podcast, I was just kind of getting my feet wet. And I did this sweet little episode that's actually become one of my most popular episodes on YouTube, about Mary, the mother of Jesus and some of the lessons we can learn from her. And so today for our podcast, I'm going to share this little clip with you and hope that you can find something that you can apply to your life today.
Tamara Anderson 1:44
When I was a little girl, one of our favorite family traditions was acting out the Nativity right before Christmas, and I had four sisters. And so we each had to take turns acting out the part of Mary and so that means we got a turn every five years. But she is a wonderful woman to emulate. And today I'd like to talk a little bit about some of the characteristics that Mary showed that I think we should follow and emulate in our own lives. And most of my story today is going to be taken from Luke chapter one. And you can follow along with me there.
Tamara Anderson 2:28
And it says in verse 28, and the angel came in unto her and said, Hail, thou that art highly favored. The Lord is with thee Blessed art thou among women. So this angel comes and appears to Mary. And it says in the next verse that when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and wondering what in the world he was talking about.
Tamara Anderson 2:50
And sometimes we feel like that we to feel troubled. When we hit certain spots in our life, we feel maybe something different is happening, and something is changing in our lives. And we feel troubled about it. I'm sure she did feel troubled about it. And so we know that we're not unique in that Mary also felt a little trouble and wondered what's going on here. And her life was about to be changed. Okay.
Tamara Anderson 3:16
And then in verse 30, it says, And the angel said unto her, fear not Mary for thou hast found favor with God. And behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and shall bring forth the son and shall call his name Jesus. And so she has found favor with God. And she's called to be the mother of the Son of God. And I think the lesson to be learned here is that God took an ordinary peasant girl from the city of Nazareth, and called her to do an extraordinary thing.
Tamara Anderson 3:52
And the same is true with us. God takes ordinary people every day. And he invites us to become extraordinary by doing extraordinary things. And sometimes they're things that we may not have wished on ourselves. But by doing them and going through that process, we become better. And anyway, so that's just a comparison for Mary.
Tamara Anderson 4:18
Let's go down to verse 34. After telling Mary about Jesus Christ, her son, she asks a question, and I think sometimes when we feel God calling us to do things, it's important to ask questions. So this is the question Mary, as she said, then that meant then said, Mary unto the angel, How shall this be seeing I know not a man? And here Mary was simply asking a question, wondering how this is going to work, seeking clarification.
Tamara Anderson 4:51
And I think that's a good thing to learn from this story is, is sometimes we can ask questions when we're not sure what we should be doing, or we don't understand what we feel God is calling us to do. How do you want me to go about this God. And often he will open doors if we approach him and ask him about that.
Tamara Anderson 5:12
Verse 36 is really neat, because one of the things the angel tells her is that her cousin Elizabeth has also conceived in her old age. And, of course, she is pregnant with John the Baptist. And she tells her this. And then he mentions in verse 37, For with God, nothing shall be impossible. And that is awesome when when we work with God. Next, nothing is impossible to us. If he wants it to happen, and he wants us to accomplish that it will happen, but we have to work with him. And we can see that in Elizabeth's life, we can see that in Mary's life, and impossible things happen.
Tamara Anderson 5:54
Because I found that to be true in my own life, that sometimes I feel God has given me tasks that are too hard to do, or seem impossible at first. And then little doors open here, or I feel like God shines the light a little bit as I take a step into the darkness. And, and so things that I previously thought were impossible. I find, they aren't so impossible. after all.
Tamara Anderson 6:19
In verse 38, Mary's wonderful response is, Behold, the handmaid of the Lord, be it unto me according to thy word. And so she was willing to embark on this journey, even though she couldn't understand and see the whole scope of it. She was willing, and I think Mary's faith is one of the most admirable things about her is that she had tremendous faith in God. And she believed, and was humble enough to submit the will of the Lord, from the very, very get go, and that is to be admired in her. And that's one of the reasons we celebrate her and her faithfulness, to be the mother of the Son of God.
Tamara Anderson 7:05
Another thing that I love about this story is that I'm sure Mary felt very alone after the angel left sometimes after we have an impression that we should do something. We feel very alone afterwards. And we wonder, did that really happen? am I really supposed to do that maybe you sent can't guess yourself in I don't know if Mary did or not. But I find I do. But the angel had given her the key of what she needed to do. During that visit, he told her to go visit Elizabeth. And as she visited Elizabeth, Elizabeth also became a, like a second witness to her. She had the witness of the angel, she had the and then she had the witness of Elizabeth when she visited her, just as she entered the house. When Elizabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost. And she speak out with a loud voice and said, blessed, art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb. And so Elizabeth became a second witness that Mary was the mother of the Son of God. And I'm sure that helped her to feel not so alone. And those two women were able to support and be with each other at times when they probably needed each other. And they were both key components in the life and ministry of our Savior, Jesus Christ. And I love this story there.
Tamara Anderson 8:36
There are a few stories in the Bible that teach us of faithful women. And this is one of them, where we get their names. And we learn some of the important critical details about who made them who they truly were.
Tamara Anderson 8:52
And so I think we can follow Mary, if we feel troubled, continue trusting in the Lord. We also learned the second lesson that God calls ordinary men and women to do extraordinary things. And that it's okay to talk to God and ask questions. If we're unsure what path we're supposed to be on or how we're supposed to go about something, to ask those questions. Then submit to the Lord, and have that faith that Mary had. And then if you feel alone, see if God sends you a second witness, and it may be through a friend at or someone else but God rarely leaves us alone.
Tamara Anderson 9:37
At this holiday season. I invite you to remember our Savior Jesus Christ, and the miracle of his birth and the faith of the women and the men around him. And I add my witness to that of Mary and Elizabeth and the angel that Jesus is the Son of God and I share that with you today and invite you to share with those who may need some inspiration at this holiday season. Hope on!
Tamara Anderson 10:11
My friends, are you looking for a meaningful Christmas gift this year? If so, you need look no further I have a fantastic sweet short story. I am so excited to share with you my new booklet it's called a broken down holiday. This is the story of a widowed young mother trying to travel home for the holidays soon after her husband dies, and being stranded in the middle of nowhere. And some of the hard things that she experiences and some of the miracles that you wouldn't think are miracles that she had happened, that it is based on a true story that happened to my mother in law. It's great for those friends that you're just like, what do I get them something simple. That's under five bucks. It's a great stocking stuffer. So if you want to share this message of hope with your friends or family members, check it out a broken down holiday on Tamra K anderson.com.
Tamara Anderson 11:13
Hey, thanks so much for listening to today's show. If you like what you heard, subscribe so you can get your weekly dose of powerful stories of hope. I know there are many of you out there who are going through a hard time, and I hope you found useful things that you can apply to your own life in today's podcast. If you'd like to access the show notes of today's show, please visit my website stories of hope podcast.com. There you will find a summary of today's show, the transcript and one of my favorite takeaways. You know, if someone kept coming to mind during today's episode, perhaps that means that you should share this episode with them. Maybe there was a story shared or quote or a scripture verse that they really really need to hear. So go ahead and share this podcast. May God bless you, especially if you are struggling with hope to carry on and the strength to keep going when things get tough. Remember to walk with Christ and He will help you bear the burden. And above all else, Remember God loves you.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai