Glad Tidings to the Poor

Mary had received quite a gift and answer to prayer. The gift she asked for God that Christmas was to know God’s will for her life. Well, the revelation that initially came indicated that in times of famine people often moved and relocated. It seemed to Mary that right now this was God’s will for her life – to move to Windsor.
The answer to this prayer did not end with this insight, however. Following on this disclosure from God came another shortly afterwards. Mary had listened to the woes of so many this Christmas and normally she would have tried to carry the burden around. This year she decided that just as with the burden of guilt she could no longer carry other’s problems either. She would pray for them instead. Coupled with this decision God spoke to Mary’s heart directly about the afflicted, the poor and needy.
Mary had been reading Isaiah 61:1-2; the very words Jesus had quoted in the Gospel of Luke. Normally, because of the abuse of her past her focus on that passage tended to dwell on God’s promise to heal the broken hearted and set the captives free. Mary had found in her own life God had healed her broken heart and set her free from her captivity to an abusive relationship. God had used her painful past to bring healing to those around her.
However, on this particular morning Mary was quickened in her spirit to read:
“The spirit of the Sovereign Lord is upon me because the Lord has anointed me and qualified me to preach the Gospel of good tidings to the meek, the poor, and the afflicted.” She had stopped there because God had been showing her a whole new meaning to the word “affliction”. It now had come to mean someone having troubles, dealing with adversity, calamity, grief, sorrow, and going through a famine.
Now as she looked back at the last seven years of her afflictiion Mary had learned to live through a famine of sorts and through poverty. Her insight of the day before encouraged her that what she went through had helped her grow. How much had she learned about cooking and budgeting? How much more had she learned to trust God?
But this day’s insight seemed to be another part in God’s answer to her prayer for Christmas: to know His will for her life. For God was suggesting deep down within Mary’s heart that her ministry might be to the poor now. They were moving to Windsor in this time of famine. Mary knew they would have to downsize into a much cheaper home to get their debt down. This meant they wouldn’t be living in the prettiest part of town. But Mary knew she would meet many poor and deprived there. God’s will for her was a ministry to bring the Good News to the poor. Mary was set to go.
God never failed to amaze Mary. Recently Mary and Robin had both agreed to take the Vision leadership course at church. There they learned that the church’s mission was to win the generations to Christ, connect them to the Master’s plan, empower them to succeed and finally, grow the kingdom. This mission lined up with this direction from the Word: that as God’s anointed she was to bring good news to the poor. Mary was grateful that God had given her part or all of her Christmas gift. She was delighted that she now saw God’s will for her life: she was to go in this time of famine to Windsor and speak the good news to the poor. She was to tell of this time of God’s favour, that it had come. She was to share the gospel of this Good News and testify of this same favour and grace she had experienced firsthand. She was the living testament of this Good News! God had used it all for this very moment in time to go and bring good news to the afflicted, just as she had been! “How awesome is that, Mary thought to herself, how awesome is that! Thank you, Lord, for this gift, this wonderful, wonderful Christmas present!”All her past years was beginning to make sense now with the truths that were coming this last while about what she had been through and this answer to prayer. With it came a new lightness, a new freedom and a peace that past all understanding. Odd, isn’t it, how such a simple prayer for one simple gift could leave in its wake so much more than a person could ask or imagine! But it did dear reader! It certainly did.