When Your Brokenness Is Beyond Explanation

Mary said, “I am the Lord’s servant, and I am willing to do whatever He wants. May everything you said come true.” And the the angel disappeared.  Luke 1:38

The words, “You are blessed among women” joyously echoed in Mary’s heart as she and Joseph set off toward Bethlehem. 

But let us stretch to imagine her shock at her first contractions. 

Mary’s joy must have turned into Utter Desperation with the onset of labor pains. And No Vacancy signs.

The panic surely swirled in her mind, a young teen sinking into the curve of a donkey’s back, sinking into the Real of being alone with Joseph as she gave birth. No Jewish woman would have imagined giving birth without her mother or a midwife.

I imagine anguish swelling from the depths of Mary’s soul. Choking on questions.

“Lord, you told Joseph in a dream this child will be called Emmanuel, ‘God is with us.’  But where are you now? I can’t do this alone! What does Joseph know about birth? 

I said Yes to you even though nothing about it made sense. . . but this CAN’T be right!”

Pinterest.com

To Mary, No Vacancy signs were confusing Beyond Explanation. Was the Messiah to be born in the brokenness and stench of a stable?

What is your Beyond Explanation? Is it broken health, a broken promise, a broken relationship you thought God had blessed? 

theatlantic.com

When Beyond Explanation makes us question everything we believe about God, that is precisely when we can be sure God is profoundly at work.

Sometimes, God’s very best is a stable—that Beyond Explanation you think you can’t bear. 

Beloved, No Vacancy signs are an integral part of God’s plan. Just as our Broken Things are an integral part of God’s plan.

bouquetsbrickbatsreviews.com

In a rough manger God brought forth His most precious gift. Likewise in His time, He will surely make your 
Beyond Explanation a birthplace of Divine. He will bring you overwhelming blessings that could only be obtained by experiencing the stable.

Jesus' Message:

Beloved, I know you are hurting. You feel I am silent. You feel as though your prayers dissolve at the ceiling.

But I assure you I am here, just as I was with Mary. Your Beyond Explanation is steeped in My mercy, My grace, and My unfathomable Love. 

Sometimes I pull aside a few of My precious children to experience rare revelations of My glory. I build a wall around them to separate them from the outside world. They may feel isolated from the rest of the bustling, happy population. But in reality, they are tucked under My wing, attuned to My heartbeat, learning to Know. Me. Intimately.  

natmonitor.com

You, My child, are one of those few. 

Your mind gets tangled up with Why’s. In your anger and confusion, you sometimes shut Me out. You would rather ignore Me than endure My deafening silence. 

aylesfordpriory.com

Please believe Me—My silence is for a reason.

In Bethlehem Mary learned to trust Me in the midst of My silence. Many years later, she would have to trust My silence again. The perfect hands and feet she explored and kissed in the stable were brutally nailed to a wooden cross. 

And it was Beyond Explanation.

Like Mary, I have chosen My BEST for you. Mary didn’t understand. I don’t ask you to either.

I don’t expect you to be strong. To be stoic. 

When your Beyond Explanation weighs heavy and hard, utter “Help me Jesus.” A thousand times a day if you need to. And I will bring you My presence. My love. My peace.

I promise.

I expect you to question Me. But in your brokenness, never break your gaze from Me. 

walterbright.org

Never let go of My hand. 

Never stop trusting I am a God who brings treasures in the darkness—and My greatest gifts in stables.