Mary did you know

I don't know if I have mentioned how much I love Christmas. I love everything about the season. The music. The decorations. The food. The time spent with family. The weather. The topics discussed at church.There always seems to be something so magical about this time of year. I don't know if its the twinkle of Christmas lights, the giant inflatable snow men in front yards or what but people seem to be a little nicer and more giving around this time of year and I love it.

I recently stumbled upon this blog called the red headed hostess. If you haven't heard of it you should check it out! This chick is totally inspiring and has the best blog entries about scripture study. When I was looking for ideas for the Christmas lesson I was going to teach my girls at church I found this gem. Have any of you ever really studied Mary? I know I hadn't before I read that blog entry either. I felt inspired to teach this as my lesson today at church. I always knew Mary was an amazing woman but I didn't really understand how amazing she was until I really focused my studies on her.

First of all... I absolutely love her reaction when Angel Gabriel comes to her and tells her she is highly favored by the Lord and that she will carry a baby and that baby would be Jesus Christ. She says "how shall this be, seeing I know not a man?" Then she says, "Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word." For some reason that really strikes me. She is completely submitting herself to God's will and even though she isn't quite sure how it will all happen she has the faith that it will all work out.

Second... the author of the blog goes on to talk about how she wants to more like Mary and goes through all of the young women's values and talks about how Mary is an example of each one. Faith. Divine Nature. Individual Worth. Knowledge. Choice & Accountability. Good Works. Integrity. Virtue. I won't go into each one because this post would be a million words long, but wow... I'll say it again. She was an amazing woman. She has every attribute that I teach my girls at church about. Every attribute that I strive to some day have. She is the perfect example of those 8 values. She would have to be to be the mother of Jesus Christ. She would have to of spent her entire life striving to be like God & keeping his commandments to worthy of something so amazing. I encourage you to study this amazing woman and learn more about her if you haven't already! 

I hope of y'all have an amazing Christmas! 

I have pretty much had this song on repeat all weekend! Who knew that Cee Lo Green was so talented ;)