I Only Have a Quarter

Last weekend I rang the bell for Salvation Army. I had asked around for a week for someone to stand with me, and I ended up not finding anyone, so, I stood there alone for two hours ringing the bell. In the beginning I was uncomfortable. It was cold and I was feeling super awkward, but in the midst of that awkwardness I found myself praying. I prayed that God would show me something. And God being the amazing and sovereign God that He is, He did.

About an hour and a half in a little girl, about eight or nine, walked into Walmart. Her and her family stopped for a while, and not even thinking twice I looked away. A few minutes later she came out with money in hand. She looked at me with a concerned face and said, "I only have a quarter" and then she clinked it into the jar. I told her that a quarter is just enough. Then, it hit me. Hard.

How many times do we come before the Lord and say "Lord, I only have a quarter."?

During devotions this morning I was reading through Luke 1:26-56. In this, the angel Gabriel appears to Mary and at first it says, in verse 29, that she is frightened or troubled (well, yeah. I mean I would be scared too if an angel appeared to me randomly) however, her demeanor later changes. The angel tells Mary that she will have a Son and she will call Him Jesus, here it is: in verse 38 it says her response was "I am the Lord's servant, may your word to me be fulfilled."

Bam, and hit again. Mary didn't respond with "Me? I'm only a teenager. I'm not married. What will people think of me? Are you sure it's me that you want to be the mother? I'm nothing special. I already have plans with Joseph. etc." No! Her response was I am Your servant. Mary responded to the God of all Creation with humility. She took the plans that she had and gave them to God with an open and trusting hand knowing that He is all that He says He is. She was called to have the One who would come and save us, the One who would be our means to heaven and the One who will wash our sins clean.

Disclaimer of understanding: it was not normal for an unwed couple to just have babies. There was no support system. It wasn't "cool". There was no celebratory baby shower and people offering to babysit. No, I'm sure that Mary and Joseph were called awful names, and I'm sure that she knew that people would respond in such a way. Yet, her response was I. Am. Your. Servant. And because of that, those same people were sent the Son of God who would wash their sins clean. How beautiful.

I realized how many times I proclaim "Here I am, Lord. Send me." and yet when He calls me I say "Well, I only have a quarter." God does not call us to come before Him only with what we have, but also with who He is and what He's done. God does not take your quarter, hand it back and say "Come back when you have a dollar". No. God takes that quarter and says "My beloved. That is enough because you see that I am enough."

I am in utter awe of how Good our God is to us.


Mary Did You Know? - Pentatonix
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifCWN5pJGIE


Luke 1:45
"Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her!"