YES
A few years back as I was preparing for the upcoming Christmas season, I was struck by one simple little word…Yes.
I was reading the Nativity story found in Luke that I’ve no doubt heard hundreds of times. You’ve probably recited some of these words in the Sunday School Christmas programs of your past.
Here's the beautiful story: The angel Gabriel appears to this young teenage girl, Mary, and tells her she is highly favored and that the Lord is with her. Pretty good greeting, right!
But as you can only imagine after being confronted by an actual angel, Mary was troubled. She was afraid. Gabriel quickly comforts her and tells her this unbelievable story of how she is going to give birth to a son that she is supposed to name Jesus. This will not be any son, this will be the “Son of the Most High.” ( Luke 1:32 NIV)
Wow, that’s a lot to take in. Yet Mary only asks one simple question about how this could physically happen, since she is a virgin, and Gabriel quickly responds that God will take care of it since,“Nothing is impossible with God.” (Luke 1:37 NIV)
Mary responds with incredible faith:
“I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered.
"May it be to me as you have said.”
Luke 1:38 (NIV)
In a word, Mary said yes.
And for a teenage girl in that day and age who was engaged to be married, this yes wasn’t easy. Not at all. This yes came with a whole slew of potentially bad consequences.
No. 1, her family could disown her and throw her out of their home for getting pregnant before she was married. That was the norm.
No. 2, Joseph, her fiancée, didn’t have to believe her crazy story about this “virgin” birth, and he could have abandoned her as well.
No. 3, her only option, if she faced the normal response and rejection of that day and age, would have been to be a beggar on the street and more than likely a prostitute. There were not a lot of options for women in this situation.
Yet in spite of all of that negative potential, this young girl had the life-changing faith to say yes. She didn’t have to consult others for their opinions and make sure everyone was okay with it before she responded. She had no idea how things would turn out, but still she said yes.
And Joseph, he could have easily walked away and abandoned Mary, but he believed as well.
I admire that kind of faith. I want that kind of faith. I wrote a song about that kind of faith!
When that simple word yes came to me in 2019, I called one of my favorite people to write with, Rachel Barrentine, and asked her to write the song with me. She loved the idea, and we worked on it right away. Here’s the chorus that we wrote that sums up this simple word, yes:
Yes to the wonder, yes to the babe
The Hope of Heaven has come to save
Yes to the glory, yes to the light
The Joy of Jesus is born this night
I adore this Gift of Grace
So here today, I will say yes
This story begs me to ask the question, what is God asking you to say yes to? Is it something that feels impossible? Is it something that feels uncomfortable? Is it something that has negative potential outcomes attached to it? Is it something other people may not think you're capable of doing?
And to get down to the biggest yes of our lives, is God asking you to say yes to Him, yes to salvation, yes to the gift of Emanuel, God with us?
I encourage you, my friend, choose this day, this very moment, to say yes to God. Let this be the Christmas that you join Mary and Joseph and choose to say YES!
I’ve included a video of us performing the song at one of our Christmas shows. It was a little show in Marcus, and it's done on an I-phone, but at least you can hear the song! Thanks to Jimmy Nichols for singing the part of Joseph with me. I hope to be recording this song next year, but here’s a teaser until then! Also, the lyrics are below so you can follow along.
God bless you as you say YES!!!
Hugs and love,
Jill
YES
Words and music by Jill Miller and Rachel Barrentine © 2019
VERSE 1
How could this be that the Lord has favored me
I’m bursting with song as I carry God’s own son
Will Joseph see me as broken
Or will he trust that I’m chosen
Either way, this will be my reply
CHORUS
Yes to the wonder, Yes to the babe
The Hope of Heaven has come to save
Yes to the glory, Yes to the light
The Joy of Jesus is born this night
I adore this Gift of Grace
So here today, I will say yes
VERSE. 2
How could this be, am I crazy to believe
The angel appeared, with a message crystal clear
I won’t abandon Mary
I’ll rejoice in the child she carries
Here and now, this will be my reply
CHORUS
BRIDGE
With all of heaven we will agree
He’s our Messiah, our Prince of Peace