Trusting God's Plan

What would it have been like to be Mary and have a visit from an angel? Especially an angel with the message Mary heard?

The angel went to her and said, "Greetings, you who are highly favoured! The Lord is with you."
Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of a greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favour with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call Him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David, and He will reign over Jacob's descendants forever; His kingdom will never end." (Luke 1:28-33)

The angel appeared to Mary with the message after God had been silent for 400 years. There had been no prophets speaking God/s message to Israel. God had been silent. They had heard nothing.

And then an angel shows up with a message for Mary. A message that would have been difficult to believe.

Mary questions the angel about how.

"How will this be," Mary asked the angel, "since I am a virgin?"
The angel answered, "The Holy Spirit will come on you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God." (Luke 1:34-35)

So, not only was God speaking after 400 years of silence, the message was also that a miracle would occur. I don't know about you, but if I had been in Mary's shoes, I would have been wondering if this was all real at this point. I would have had a hard time believing God would choose to break His silence by speaking to me.

I love Mary's response to the message the angel brought:

"I am the Lord's servant," Mary answered. "May your word to me be fulfilled." (Luke 1:38)

Whatever questions or doubts she may have had, Mary chose to trust God. She chose to move forward with the message from the angel and trust God with whatever happened.

I wonder how I would have responded. Would I have chosen to trust God as Mary did? Or would I have allowed my doubts and fears to cause me to try to run from what I was being told?

What do I do today when God asks me to do something? Do I respond as God's servant? Or do I run the other way?