anticipate

“...and she exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For behold when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord”

Luke 1:42-45 ESV

There is much for the Lord to reveal as we await the fulfillment of His promises.

The four gospels depict the story of Jesus — each in its own beautiful way. In this particular section of Luke, we see the first instance of the glory of the Lord revealed in regard to Mary’s pregnancy by another woman, Elizabeth. She says: “blessed is the fruit of your womb” and “blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord”.

Do you believe in what the Lord has spoken over your life? I mean truly believe in the core of your being, that His promises will manifest before your very eyes? This is a process, you see, where the Lord takes our mustard seed-sized faith and turns it into something we could have never imagined. Together, you water it day by day, as the seed of faith turns to ripened fruit.

Friend, imagine what it was like to be in Mary’s shoes. Counting down the days for 9 months, awaiting the Savior of the world, having no idea what her life would be like from that point forward. She lived on faith alone, knowing only that the Lord had blessed her womb. We know from reading the story what happens next, but at the time — she was a simple young woman, just like each of us. And after God’s promise was fulfilled, Jesus walked on the dirt of this Earth for 30 whole years, amongst people crying out in anticipation of that very promise, before anyone ever knew that God had already answered their prayers.

This story shows us that we may not know the intricacies of the way God fulfills His promise, but we do know that we can hold out hope that He is working behind the scenes day by day, month by month until the harvest.

During this season of Advent, may we each think back to times (or meditate on a current moment) when we have been waiting on a promise from the Lord to be fulfilled. May we remember and hold onto hope for when the root of our hopes and desires will manifest as fruit in the womb.

Happy holidays, sister!
Madison Leigh

additional reading:

 John 20:29 / Luke 11:27-28 / John 11:40 / 2 Chronicles 20:20

reflect:

Take some time to reflect on the last paragraph of this week's devotional.

centering prayer:

LORD - may I hold onto your promises in faith-filled anticipation that one day, they will be fulfilled. amen.