At the last minute (a few days before Christmas) Mary had suggested to Robin that perhaps they should each take $50 of the $100 her sister had sent them for Christmas and shop for each other. Robin thought it was too late in the season to do that so Mary had spent the money on groceries instead. Mary had been disappointed in this and decided that no matter how difficult it was for them next year that they would exchange gifts even if it only meant exchanging little tokens of love.
However, despite the lack of gifts under the tree Mary and Robin blessed each other with pretty cards and lovely verses. Mary had found a card that said exactly what she could have spent a full page writing in a brief but beautiful summation. Robin had taken the time to write Mary a note and this meant a lot to Mary. She would hold the words close to her heart.
The day was filled with a beautiful peace that descended on their home like a white snowfall on a dark night. Good and surprising news had come from her sister Martha who lived in the states. Mary had been praying for this sister and her marriage for a long while. It had been a sad affair and the couple had a friendly separation. Oddly, they seemed to spend more and better time together since their marriage break up that had occurred only months after they married back in 2003. On this particular Christmas Martha and her beloved had decided to take a trip to the coast in their mobile home. It surprised Mary even though she shouldn’t have been; she had encouraged her sister to do something this Christmas when her three grown children had indicated they wouldn’t be home for Christmas. But for her sister to end up going away with her ex amazed Mary.
So on this Christmas morning Mary was even more flabbergasted when her sister phoned and reported:“Ray and I got married again”. Mary had said nothing. In fact, Mary’s long pause was obvious and her sister Martha laughed nervously to break the silence.
“How wonderful!” Mary finally said, and she meant it. “I have been praying for you too for so long. I am so happy for you. When did this all happen?” Mary asked, curious about the details. Martha proceeded to share her jubilation over the big event and the particulars over the day. Apparently, it had happened three days prior to this and they had found a judge still available to do the deed.
When Mary got off the phone she found herself highly elated for her sister and amazed even though she shouldn’t have been. She had prayed after all for them, hadn’t she? So why did it seem like such a surprise to Mary? Well, dear reader, it seemed to Mary that her own prayers for herself, regarding her finances and a career seemed to be landing on deaf ears. Though Mary knew God wasn’t deaf by any means Martha’s good news seemed to indicate that at the very least He just wasn’t responding to her needs right now.
Later in the afternoon Theresa, Mary and Martha’s sister emailed Mary elated for Martha. Theresa had written:
It’s a Christmas of miracles all around. Martha being married, little Brian off drugs and not facing jail time like last Christmas, Katherine happy again, Sally 2 in town got to church for the first time in her life last night on Christmas Eve. She was raised without God and over the last few years I have given her simple instruction in being a Christian. Two weeks ago I baptized her and the next day she met and became friends with a United Church minister (a woman) from the IslandYes, it was a miracle and as Mary looked at all the people Theresa had mentioned in her email she realized she and Robin had prayed for each and every one of them including her sister Theresa! What this did for Mary was encourage her that God was in the business of answering prayers and would answer hers in due time. For now she would enjoy the miracles of this Christmas and the answered prayer for so many she had petitioned God for on their behalf.
Christmas Day, Boxing Day and the following Monday Mary felt God continue to speak to her regarding her own Christmas wish: to know His will for His life. Christmas Day God had spoken and told Mary to Rest in Him or Be Still and wait patiently before Him to act. This encouragement was from Psalm 37; a familiar scripture which Mary read with new hope in her present situation. God would act on her behalf and she just needed to be still. The following day the reading was from Exodus 14 and God’s words to Moses at the parting of the Red sea spoke loud and clear to her: she was to stand still and see the salvation of the Lord just as the Israelites did when the great waters separated before them drowning their enemy, the Egyptians in the process.
Finally, on that very lovely Monday morning God reminded Mary of the prophet Zechariah’s encouragement regarding the rebuilding of the temple after Israel had been in captivity for 70 to Babylon. The prophet had said
“It is not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, says the Lord Almighty” (Zechariah 4:6). As Mary read from the commentaries on this passage her hope was renewed that God was at work on her behalf in her own situation. God through His Holy Spirit was fighting for her. She became even more excited however when she read the next verse which added "Nothing, not even a mighty mountain will stand in [your] way, it will flatten out before you". Mary harkened back to the thoughts and memories of Ireland and the mountain she had seen their looming in the mist, seemingly so insurmountable. God was speaking directly into her own situation! What a Christmas gift: God’s will for her life included His mighty power to flatten any mountains she faced!
Later that day as Mary drove to Windsor to pick up Robin she listened to a speaker on the radio. She didn’t normally get to hear his radio show because she usually left later. However, today she had decided to hit one or two of the big box stores to see what the Boxing Day sales were like. So it was about an hour earlier when she caught the ministers’ talk. Interestingly enough it was about restoration and how God was doing something and going to restore some people. What was interesting was the lecturer repeated himself more than once and directed his attention specifically to people he thought who were in his radio audience that had been called and had been somehow robbed of that call.
As Mary drove along she found herself pulled in to his discussion as if he was speaking to her alone. It was as if God was giving her a prophetic message through this man – that He was about to restore her. It impressed Mary greatly because already that day another minister had said something on the subject of restoration. A well known woman speaker had suggested from her take on Isaiah 61 that those who had gone through losses would "inherit a double portion of prosperity” or “double for their trouble”, as she put it. Mary had a busy day but threaded throughout were thoughts of these words of promise and whispers of hope.
She went to bed that night feeling deep within her a sense of God’s comfort. It instilled within her an inner peace she had not known for quite some time. She had thought the quiet streets of town had been the source of her quiet spirit but she realized that her surroundings only personified her existential situation. The New Year was coming and with it new challenges and the long awaited mountain Mary had feared since she had viewed it in Ireland. But despite this mountain and the difficulties it posed God was promising Mary He would be with her. It wouldn’t be by her power or might but His Spirit she would overcome. And that mountain she feared: well, when it came she would face it with Him who promised to level it. Yes, the New Year was just around the corner and Mary was excited that restoration was coming.
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