More From Maria M. Maitland

I still recall the day I got the email notifying me that my devotional “Who Needs Christmas?” was selected to be published and telling me the time frame in which it was going to be release. I had forgotten about the submission, but not what I wrote about—trusting God with my fear of not knowing if I would ever be married and still enjoying Christmas despite the loneliness. In trusting God like Mary did and saying “Let it be done to me as you say” (Luke 1:38), I can say I truly lived that conviction every day.

So I opened the email, read through it, and laughed. Then my husband asked, “What happened?” Yes! Hilarious, I know. God has quite the sense of humor, doesn’t he?

Less than a year after I wrote and submitted my devotional, I met the man who is now my husband. Interestingly, just a few months before we met, I had told God that it was okay if he did not bring anyone into my life in that season, since I was entering the busiest time I had ever encountered—a new job, new degree, and new church. Then on the first day of my PhD intensive, this man walked in and would not stop staring at me; as it goes, the rest is history. To make God’s timing even more providential, our wedding anniversary is just a few days after the publish date of my devotional. If I had planned all of that, it would not have turned out this way.

Today as I read and reflect on the devotional, it serves as a reminder for me not only of my single years, but also of what faith in God can do in the midst of seemingly scary situations. As a disabled Veteran, I deal with chronic pain and social difficulties daily. The past three months have tested, well—my everything. A strange and debilitating health issue arose out of nowhere, forced me to slow down, and consumed my husband and me with fear. On one occasion, I even told my husband that at this point in a marriage, many wives are dragging their man to the doctors to check on a pregnancy, not to see if they’ll live.

It has been scary. The “Why me? Why now? Why this?” questions have been more in my prayers than what I want to say: “Let it be done to me as you say” (Luke 1:38). A part of me knows that God has a plan, but not knowing what it is and having to leave behind the working plan I was on fills me with the fear of the uncertain.

I guess that is the beauty behind God’s humorous timing. It’s been a few years since I wrote my devotional, but it was not the years in between when I needed this reminder of the example of Mary’s faith. It was not the year I met my husband and spent Christmas introducing him to my family. It was not the following year either, when we spent the season planning a wedding and getting married. It is now; it is the year that started with every slot on my calendar filled but that is ending with me being at home waiting for the doctors to call. This is the year when I needed to be reminded of what faith can do.