Today, our pastor asked staff a question: What part of the Advent season are you carrying with you into the year ahead? 

This Advent, I’ve been sitting with Mary (Luke 1:26–38), a young woman standing at a crossroads she did not choose. I’ve been pondering her response to the angel and the circumstances she found herself in when God’s invitation came. 

Mary’s faith is not built on knowing what God is doing, but on trusting who God is, and believing that because of His character, He is always at work. That trust is all the more striking because Mary is the most vulnerable person in the story. 

When the angel speaks, Mary is young, betrothed, and living in a world where nearly every significant decision about her life has already been made by others. She does not hold power. She does not control the narrative. She cannot manage how this news will be received. God’s message comes to her without protection from social consequences and without clarity about how her community or Joseph will respond. 

And yet, Mary senses that God is at work, not because the circumstances look promising, but because the One who is speaking is trustworthy. 

She does not receive a plan, only a disruption. Her faith does not rest on certainty or safety, but on recognizing that something holy is breaking into her ordinary life because God Himself has entered the moment. 

That is why her words as striking: “Let it be to me according to your word.” (Luke 1:38) 

From the place of greatest vulnerability, she aligns herself with God’s movement, trusting His character more than her ability to predict the future. She places her life in the hands of a faithful God, even while the response of others remains unknown. 

This is often how God works. He moves often through those with the least ability to control the outcome. Faith, then, is not about securing results, but about trusting the God who is already at work and choosing to join Him as His purposes unfold. 

As we look forward to this coming year, Mary’s response offers us a prayer worth carrying. Not a prayer for certainty or control. But a prayer of openness, trust, and availability rooted in who God is. 

May we have eyes to notice that God is up to something.
May we have courage to join Him, even when the path is unclear. 

And may our response echo Mary’s faithful yes: 

God, let it be to us according to your word. 

Not because we see the whole picture,
but because we trust the One who is at work among us.