What if Mary had said, “No” to God when he asked her to have his Son? After all, many have said, “No” to God perhaps out of fear, or not wanting to risk, or sacrifice anything. Did He have a plan “B”? Was there an understudy waiting in the wings for her big chance?
I heard a story of a man who grew up very different from the rest of his family. You see, they all went to the same church, but the others, in his family, resisted when God tried to change them from the inside out. They evidently, just wanted enough of Jesus to escape hell. He wondered, and so did those who heard his story of the way his family treated him and others, how, or why he didn’t turn out like them. His father passed away, and as he was walking through the now empty house, he felt God’s Spirit whisper to him, “While you were growing up in this house, I kept my hand tight around your heart, because I knew one day, you would give it to me.”
“So God, who knows the heart,…”
Acts 15:8 (NKJV)
God knew He didn’t need a plan “B”, because He knew Mary would agree to his will. God knew Mary’s heart belonged to him, so Christmas went off without a hitch, and the rest of God’s plan did as well. What, or who have you given your heart to?
Copyright © 2019 Mark Brady. All rights reserved.
brady, mark a. 
No doubt God knew the heart of the person He was choosing to bear His Son. It may seem like we can foil God’s “plan A,” but He may just be showing US something we need to know.
In college I considered myself a good witness, but I also struggled with my health. When I was in the infirmary, a girl was brought into my room in the middle of the night, and I heard the dorm mother whispering that they thought she had something I knew was contagious (not what I had). I started fretting, thinking, “I’m already sick, and you bring me a roommate with THAT?!”
The next day they got the test results back and whisked her away to a room in isolation, and for the first time I realized I had blown it. I should have witnessed to her, but I was too busy being selfish and paranoid. I think God knew all along that this would happen, but I had to be shown that as far as being a good Christian, I still had a LONG way to go! I didn’t foil God’s plan, He probably just chose someone else to share Jesus with her – someone not quite as self-centered.
A very good point. Thanks for sharing.