{"id":13781,"date":"2012-12-24T01:11:22","date_gmt":"2012-12-24T06:11:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/?p=13781"},"modified":"2012-12-24T01:11:26","modified_gmt":"2012-12-24T06:11:26","slug":"12-pearls-of-christmas-day-11-just-like-mary-by-carla-anne-coroy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/?p=13781","title":{"rendered":"12 Pearls of Christmas | Day 11 – Just Like Mary by Carla Anne Coroy"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"12PearlsOfChristmas\"<\/a>Welcome to the 12 Pearls of Christmas blog series!<\/b><\/p>\n

Merry Christmas from Pearl Girls\u2122<\/a>! We hope you enjoy these Christmas \u201cPearls of Wisdom\u201d from the authors who were so kind to donate their time and talents! If you miss a few posts, you\u2019ll be able go back through and read them on this blog throughout the next few days.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re giving away a pearl necklace in celebration of the holidays, as well as some items (books, a gift pack, music CDs) from the contributors! Enter now on Facebook<\/a> or at the Pearl Girls blog<\/a>. The winner will announced on January 2, 2013 at the Pearl Girls blog<\/a>.<\/p>\n

If you are unfamiliar with Pearl Girls\u2122, please visit www.pearlgirls.info<\/a> and see what we\u2019re all about. In short, we exist to support the work of charities that help women and children in the US and around the globe. Consider purchasing a copy of Mother of Pearl<\/i><\/a>,<\/i> Pearl Girls: Encountering Grit, Experiencing Grace<\/i><\/a> or one of the Pearl Girls products<\/a> (all GREAT gifts!) to help support Pearl Girls.<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

Just Like Mary<\/b><\/p>\n

By Carla Anne Coroy<\/b><\/p>\n

Mary. Amazing Mary. Mother of Jesus. We marvel at her simple, faith-filled acceptance of God\u2019s will for her life. There\u2019s so little written about Mary in the Bible. We know almost nothing, really, about this woman that God chose to parent His Son.<\/p>\n

Many have speculated about the exact age of Jesus\u2019 mother. How old was she, really? What would it have been like to be greeted by an angel\u2014and told you would become pregnant by the Spirit of God?<\/p>\n

I wonder about other things sometimes, though. Like if she had morning sickness, or gained a lot of weight during her pregnancy. Was she overdue, or was baby Jesus born right on time? Did she mistake Braxton Hicks contractions for the real thing before labor really started? Was it a fast labor or did Joseph have eighteen hours to get that place into birthing readiness?<\/p>\n

Most women who have ever given birth to a child have shared pregnancy stories. Everyone\u2019s story is unique and interesting. Surely Mary\u2019s was, too!<\/p>\n

Then there are the stories of potty-training and conversations on how to get the baby to sleep through the night. Did Mary bounce Jesus on her knee while sharing recipes with other young moms?<\/p>\n

We cannot find answers for these questions in Scripture. And as interesting as it might be to share pregnancy stories with Mary over a cup of coffee (maybe in heaven?) and get her tips on potty-training, we really don\u2019t need to know any of that to love the Son she bore.<\/p>\n

But Mary\u2019s example raises questions about me and my own life that get under my skin.<\/p>\n

Am I the kind of woman God will choose to be part of His plan? Do I trust and love my God enough to give faith-filled answers like she did? If there were just a few paragraphs written of my life for future generations to read, would those words reveal a heart of willing submission to God?<\/p>\n

\u201cI am the Lord\u2019s servant,\u201d Mary answered. \u201cMay it be to me as you have said.\u201d<\/i>\u00a0(Luke 1:38, NIV)<\/p>\n

God has not asked me to carry the burden of His Son in my womb. There are other burdens He is asking me, and you, to carry instead. Are we being the women He needs for the part of the plan we\u2019re living in now? Am I saying to Jesus today, \u201cMay it be to me as you have said\u201d?<\/p>\n

During this Advent season, let\u2019s prepare ourselves to be used by God, filled with faith and anticipating His grace\u2014just like Mary.<\/p>\n

***<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Carla Anne Coroy is a Christian speaker and blogger, and the award-winning author of\u00a0Married Mom, Solo Parent. She ministers to a wide audience through her website and blog at\u00a0<\/i><\/b>www.carlaanne.com<\/i><\/b><\/a>. Carla Anne has served full-time with organizations such as Youth for Christ and Crown Financial Ministries, and is currently developing mentoring resources for women and an international mentoring organization for youth. She also serves as a staff writer for the online magazine\u00a0Mentoring Moments for Christian Women\u00a0and is a spokesperson for Faithbuddy.com. Carla Anne lives in Canada with her husband and four homeschooled children.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Welcome to the 12 Pearls of Christmas blog series! Merry Christmas from Pearl Girls\u2122! We hope you enjoy these Christmas \u201cPearls of Wisdom\u201d from the authors who were so kind to donate their time and talents! If you miss a few posts, you\u2019ll be able go back through and read them on this blog throughout […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13781","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christmas"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13781","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13781"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13781\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13804,"href":"https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13781\/revisions\/13804"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13781"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13781"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13781"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}