Not long ago, I blogged of my coming to terms with God’s purposes in our lives through the wildfire that turned our home to ashes. We are still in the process of working with insurance to settle on prices for repurchasing our belongings, and working on another front to rebuild our home.

You can imagine that on many occasions Pam and I wonder, “Just what is going on! God, what are you doing? Did you really need to do it this way?!”

I love the phrase in Luke 2, describing the young teenage girl who woke up one morning finding herself to be mother to a King and Savior. After the months of waiting, Jesus was born, and an angel and shepherd choir had sung songs of praise. We read,

But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart (Luke 2:19).

The most telling evidence of the character of Mary, however, is seen months earlier. It is one thing to accept God’s assignments once more evidence has been presented. Months earlier, that confused and probably horrified teenager, had found that she was pregnant, receiving a startling announcement from an angel. She wasn’t married and hadn’t been with a man. It could take some of us months of counseling to get over that day! But Mary’s response says much of her faith and spiritual orientation,

“I am the Lord’s servant, … May it be to me as you have said” (Luke 1:38).

Pam and I, over these months though racked with grief, discouragement, and the weight of unwanted tasks, have sought to ponder and submit ourselves to the grand schemes of God. We long to have a heart that, in place of complaining, wonders: God, what are you doing? How will you sustain us through this time? What part are we to play, for your glory?