{"id":26183,"date":"2025-12-23T08:00:44","date_gmt":"2025-12-23T13:00:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/?p=26183"},"modified":"2025-12-09T11:22:01","modified_gmt":"2025-12-09T16:22:01","slug":"marys-way-trusting-god-with-the-unknown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2025\/12\/marys-way-trusting-god-with-the-unknown.html","title":{"rendered":"Mary\u2019s Way: Trusting God with the Unknown"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/258\/2025\/12\/ai-generated-8580415_1280.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-26186\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/258\/2025\/12\/ai-generated-8580415_1280.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1080\" height=\"1080\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Imagine being a young girl and an angel appears and tells you that you have found favor with God. Honestly, I really can&#8217;t imagine!<\/p>\n<p>The angel goes on to explain that you would conceive by the Holy Spirit, and give birth to the Son of God. \u00a0The questions that would race through my mind: <em data-start=\"534\" data-end=\"614\">How can this be? Why me? How will this happen? Will anyone believe this story?<\/em><\/p>\n<p data-start=\"618\" data-end=\"898\">Yet this was Mary\u2019s experience and Scripture doesn\u2019t record a long list of questions Mary needed answered before she obeyed. Instead, we see a simple and profound response:\u00a0<em data-start=\"760\" data-end=\"803\">\u201cLet it be to me according to Your word.\u201d<\/em>\u00a0Mary received God\u2019s message with calm trust. She listened, she believed, and she worshipped.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"900\" data-end=\"1057\">Her response invites us to examine our own. When we face uncertainty, do we respond with surrender and trust, or with fear and frantic searching for answers?<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1059\" data-end=\"1367\">We all experience seasons filled with unknowns. There may be questions about our families, our future, our careers, our finances, our health, or our relationships. Uncertainty has a way of stirring restlessness. We want clarity, control, and reassurance. But Mary reminds us that faith often begins where explanations end.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1369\" data-end=\"1870\">Mary is known for many things, but one of her most remarkable qualities is her humble trust. No one else in history has experienced what she did. She was given a calling that would change the world and her life forever. She didn\u2019t know how it would all unfold. In fact, if we rewrote the familiar song\u00a0<em data-start=\"1671\" data-end=\"1692\">Mary, Did You Know?<\/em>\u00a0the lyrics might say,\u00a0<em data-start=\"1721\" data-end=\"1750\">Mary, You Didn\u2019t Know Much!<\/em>\u00a0Yet she believed. She trusted God\u2019s character more than her own understanding. That kind of faith challenges all of us.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1872\" data-end=\"2273\">This Christmas, perhaps we need to rediscover Mary\u2019s way of responding to uncertainty. She embraced the unknown with calm acceptance, trust, and praise. Psalm 131 paints a similar picture. After years of turmoil, David writes that he has \u201cquieted\u201d and \u201ccalmed\u201d his soul. He came to understand that he didn\u2019t need to know everything, solve everything, or control everything. His hope rested in the Lord, not in his own strength.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"2275\" data-end=\"2511\">We, too, have many questions about the future. Much of life remains unclear. Yet God sits on the throne, and nothing escapes His care. Our calling is not to solve every uncertainty but to trust the One who already knows the way forward.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"2513\" data-end=\"2861\">Mary pondered many things in her heart, but she trusted God to take care of her. Her childlike faith is a model for us in every season of life. When the angel appeared, Mary stepped into the unknown with courage rooted in trust. And in the quiet of that holy night, when everything was still and the world was unaware, the Savior entered our story.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"2863\" data-end=\"3140\">As we walk through our own uncertainties, may we remember this: God holds tomorrow. He has all the answers. So quiet your heart, trust Him, and rest in His care. The same God who guided Mary guides you. And the same Savior born in Bethlehem is the One who walks with you today.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Imagine being a young girl and an angel appears and tells you that you have found favor with God. Honestly, I really can&#8217;t imagine! The angel goes on to explain that you would conceive by the Holy Spirit, and give birth to the Son of God. \u00a0The questions that would race through my mind: How&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":419,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[916],"tags":[9563,9560,9557,9551,3257,2188,9554],"class_list":["post-26183","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-god-relationship","tag-childlike-faith","tag-embrace-the-unknown","tag-marys-obedience","tag-marys-trust","tag-trust-god","tag-uncertainty","tag-virgin-mary"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Mary\u2019s Way: Trusting God with the Unknown<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"One of Mary&#039;s most remarkable qualities is her humble trust. 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