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Simply Stories Podcast


Dec 24, 2020

Merry Christmas Eve, friends! Today, one of my dearest friends in the whole world, Katie Covert and I invite you to open your eyes and hearts to a fresh perspective into the story of Mary, the mother of Jesus, and all the incredible events surrounding Jesus’ birth. We are women who value a God of the details, and Katie shares powerful and beautiful insight into the history, as well as just humanizing the story of Jesus’ arrival. This was, from all human perspectives, a mess made for Lifetime. Unplanned teenage pregnancy, talk of divorce, risk of the death penalty, a murder plot and more. But some of the messiest pieces of this narrative are the parts that mark the fulfillment of God’s promises. Prophecy after prophecy is fulfilled in bursting technicolor, but like much with the Lord, hearing about the activity of God, and living in the thick of it are two completely different things. 

And if that’s not a picture of how to approach the end of this insane year, I don’t know what is. We are a people in desperate need of faith like Mary’s: unreasonable, audacious, and completely trusting that the God of the universe will keep His Word, and how it plays out in the middle is worth it in the end. But it is also OK that many of us (Katie and I included) to be in spaces of “if this is how God’s faithfulness feels, if being favored puts me in a situation that could get me killed, how do we hold on to our faith that He will be good and trustworthy no matter how it plays out?”

Life is messy, that’s not fatalistic, it's just true. The world is broken, and Jesus was born into a messy slice of broken. But God’s faithfulness, His kindness, His provision and His very presence was magnified the deeper they pressed into the mess. God is large enough to oversee the supremacy of time and prophecy fulfilled and small enough to care about the minute details of long broken hearts and barren wombs. This story carries His magnitude and His intentionality. What a word of hope to a weary world. 

Slight sidebar, we also make a case for the first person to have a filling of the Holy Spirit and speaking from its source in the New Testament being a woman. Which is fascinating. Women carried and proclaimed His presence into the world, and then declared His risen return. “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”

After this year, none of us are the same, but that doesn’t mean that God has changed, and there is so much more for us to see so that we can trust Him more. Merry Christmas, friend. You matter. Your story matters. 

*Our Advent series intro music is by Chris & Stephanie Teauge of Out of the Dust. We’re so grateful for their generosity in allowing us to share their song “O Come, All Ye Faithful.” Listen on Spotify to the rest of this song and the remainder of their Christmas EP here.

*Outro music is from audionautix.com

Connect with Katie::

Katie’s Blog

Instagram 

LW Instagram
Armor Up, Warrior Princess
AUWP Instagram

Little Women at Cedar Run

References:

Frontier Ranch 

Gilmore Girls

“God means what He says even when it feels like bad news.”- Beth Moore

Enneagram 5

Giddy Up, Eunice- Sophie Hudson

Family arrangement for marriage / Jewish betrothal and contract

Divorce during betrothal would have implied adultery = stoning

Kataluma - potentially a guestroom with the animals, or a cave under a house

Swaddling clothes for lambs // Tower of the Flock and Here

Say Something- Lorelai watching herself on “Gilmore Girls” 

“Is He Worthy”- Andrew Peterson

Tony Evans quote “faith is acting like God is telling the Truth”

Beth Moore talk at the Passion Conference on risking it all for the Gospel

God say something! (Love Andrew Peterson’s song “Deliver Us” to echo this)

Scripture References:

Titus 2

Judges 6:36-40- Put out a fleece for the Lord 

Luke 2:19 // Luke 2:51- But Mary treasured up all these things 

Isaiah 7:14- Prophecy:: a virgin would give birth to a Savior

Psalm 132: 11 / 2 Samuel 7:12-16 / 1 Chronicles 17:13-  Prophecy :: He would be descendant of David

Isaiah 40:3-5 / Malachi 3:1 - Prophecy :: That there would be a forerunner

Isaiah 9:1-7 / Luke 1:26-36 / Luke 1:47-55-  Prophecy :: That He would be called the Son of God

Micah 5:2- Prophecy :: That it would all happen in Bethlehem 

Luke 1:26-38- The angel’s conversation with Mary

Luke 1:34-38-Mary’s response

Luke 1:5-25- Zechariah’s encounter with an angel

Judges 6- Gideon 

Joshua 3:1-5:12- Going into the Promised Land

Luke 1:37 - “The word of God will never fail”

Joshua 21:45 / Jeremiah 1:12 / Lamentations 2:17 -  God keeps His promises 

Luke 1:26-66 - Elizabeth and Mary 

Luke 1:7- Elizabeth had been barren 

Psalm 16:6- The boundary stones have fallen for me in pleasant places

Colossians 3:15- Let peace hold you together

Exodus 20:21- The people stood far off while Moses drew near to the darkness 

Matthew 2:1-12-The wise men come

Matthew 2:13-18- Joseph’s response to the angel and going to Egypt

Matthew 2:19-23- Joseph’s response to the angel and leaving Egypt

Philippians 1:6- God will complete the work He began

Genesis 29: Leah and Rachel 

Genesis 35- Where Rachel dies, at Tower of Migdal Eder

Micah 4:8- “As for you, watchtower of the flock, stronghold of Daughter Zion, the former dominion will be restored to you; kingship will come to Daughter Jerusalem.” 

Matthew 1- Lineage of Jacob, Rachel, Boaz, Ruth and David

Luke 2:12- Jesus was a spotless lamb, laying in a manger

Luke 2:8-20-The shepherds in the fields the angels appeared to

John 10:11-18 / Psalm 23 - The Good Shepherd

Isaiah 61:1-3-For His glory and our good

Matthew 1- The way His lineage of generations went back in certain numerical portions 

1 John 4:9-He sent His Son

Psalm 27:13-14-What would have become of me had I not believed

Romans 8:22- The groaning and the longing is part of the birth

Psalm 130:6- More than watchmen wait for the morning

Luke 2:22-38- Anna and Simeon

Ruth and Boaz (here’s an episode where we share more about them!) 

Connecting with Emily and Simply Stories Podcast:
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