Previous Challenge Entry (Level 4 – Masters)
Topic: PLEAD (11/30/23)
-
TITLE: Letting God Choose | Previous Challenge Entry
By Marilyn Meiners
12/04/23 -
LEAVE COMMENT ON ARTICLE
SEND A PRIVATE COMMENT
ADD TO MY FAVORITES
“What is it Mary?” Joseph asked guardedly.
Licking her lips with her tongue, she whispered, ever so softly, “I’m going to have a baby.”
“What? No! Please tell me this isn’t so,” Joseph nervously cried.
“It’s true, Joseph. I’ve been faithful. Honest, I have. This baby is God’s Son, conceived within me by the Holy Spirit.”
Joseph starred wide-eyed at his betrothed.
“Is this true God?” Joseph whispered. “Jehovah, please, what do I do now?”
That evening as Joseph was laying down to sleep, an angel appeared to him in a dream. “Joseph, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will have a son and you will name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”
Mary spoke the truth. She had been faithful. Joseph couldn’t wait to tell Mary 'Yes, I’ll marry you.'
The couple eagerly anticipated the birth of this precious boy, even though people in Nazareth ridiculed them and condemned them for what was assumed the couple had done.
As Mary approached her ninth month, Joseph received a notice that he would have to leave Nazareth and travel to Bethlehem to register, as ordered by Quirinius.
“Do we have to go?” plead Mary.
“Yes, I’m afraid so. I’ll try to make the trip as easy for you as possible, Mary.”
Early the next morning they began their seventy-mile journey to Bethlehem. “We have about four days of travel,” sighed Mary. “I’m as big as a house, and we have to go to Bethlehem!”
“Yes, but you are a beautiful 'house' Mary. I’ll take Peppi, our donkey. You can ride him when you get tired.”
Mary uttered no complaint on the four-day journey, but Joseph could see the pleading in her eyes as she grew weary with each step she took or each bounce on the donkey’s back. How he longed to ease her discomfort, but they needed to keep traveling if they would reach Bethlehem by nightfall.
“Look Joseph! I see Bethlehem in the distance. We’re almost there!” exclaimed a joyful Mary. “My back is hurting, I’m tired, and I can’t wait to crawl into a warm bed.”
Joseph smiled as he walked proudly beside his brave wife who endured a very difficult trip under trying circumstances; with little complaint. He couldn’t imagine her plight.
Approaching an Inn Joseph knocked on the door. When the door opened Joseph said, “Good evening sir. I’m looking for a room for my wife and I for the night…” Before Joseph could finish his sentence the innkeeper said “sorry, no room.”
“But my wife is pregnant,” plead Joseph. “She needs some rest.”
“No room, sorry” were the last words Joseph heard before the door slammed shut.
Joseph tried three other Inns, receiving the same reply - “no room”. Now what would they do? Where would they go?
“Don’t worry, Joseph,” a weary Mary replied. “God will take care of us.”
Silently, in her heart, Mary plead with her Father, “Please help us find a place to rest. I know your Son is coming tonight and we need a safe place for him. You have provided in the past, I know you will provide tonight. Open our eyes to see your plan. Thank you.”
As she whispered “amen” she spotted a cattle stall and manger in the distance. “Joseph!” she cried. “God has provided. Look! Over there. That’s where God's baby will be born. It is safe. It is warm. It is God’s best.”
“A cattle stall? Mary are you crazy. You want God's Son to be born there?”
“Yes, Joseph. It is what God has provided for us. Whether His Son is born in a cozy inn or a cattle stall, he will be loved and protected. Remember, this is God’s Son, and if God wants him to lay in a manger bed, who are we to argue. I plead with God to provide, and this is his provision.”
That evening, a beautiful baby was born. Wrapping him in swaddling cloths, Mary laid him in the manger. Joseph named him Jesus. Mary called him God’s Son. The shepherds worshipped him, and the angels sang “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men.”
God’s greatest Gift was born this night.
Scripture from ESV, Matthew chapter 1
The opinions expressed by authors may not necessarily reflect the opinion of FaithWriters.com.
Accept Jesus as Your Lord and Savior Right Now - CLICK HERE
JOIN US at FaithWriters for Free. Grow as a Writer and Spread the Gospel.