“I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.”

Luke 1:38 (NIV)

The story of Mary has many lessons for us.

Mary was in dreaded fear when she first heard from the Angel Gabriel about her role in God’s plan of salvation. The assignment was not easy because she risked losing her reputation, impending marriage, and maybe her life. She knew she would lose more if she obeyed God, but she surrendered completely to what God wanted her to do and be.

It takes humility to trust God and surrender everything to Him.

This involves letting go of our fears and having the boldness to believe that all things are possible with God. While our faith may be imperfect and even shaky at times, we are assured by God’s word that He will increase our faith, and perfect what is lacking in it.

When God calls us, He also gives us the grace to trust Him and take Him at His word. He will not tell us everything all at once because, on one hand, it would be too much for us, and on the other hand, He also wants to surprise us.

We will never grow in our trust in God if we have to know everything before doing anything. Then we will resist what God wants to do in and through us because we are used to living our lives in a certain way rather than moving outside of our comfort zone.

Obedience is the fruit of being loved by God and being more deeply in love with Him.

When God has the first place in our life’s priority, obedience becomes a joy rather than a burden. We will move away from doing something for God to doing something with God. This is because we will realise God uses us not because we are great but because He is gracious.