"There are a few things I have learned so far on this journey of surrender," she recalls. "The first obstacle I had to overcome was my fear and feelings of inadequacy.

"I had prayed the prayer of anything  as though I were about to launch on the Superman ride at Six Flags, my eyes closed tight and fingernails digging in.

I was so afraid. I can just imagine God thinking something like, Thanks a lot, Jennie. Great. You’ ll be used by me, but no one else will want to ever be, because you are making it look so terrifying!

But on the other hand, maybe He was thinking, 'I love that she realizes she is going to need Me for this.'

I have; I do need Him. That has been the theme of the last two years of my life, and I see no relief in the future. He has stretched me to the places where fear should be paralyzing me, and yet I am OK.

As I look at Mary, who was asked to carry the Son of God, I see a girl who surely did not feel worthy or able to bear and raise the son of God, but she did not focus on that. She submitted and focused on the eternal plans of God. The cost and her inadequacy paled in light of God’s plan for humanity. She just was in awe that God would have plans for her simple, short life here.