In the sermon 'Profile of a Godly Woman: Mary,' Jason Dohm examines the life of Mary, the mother of Jesus, as a model of Christian hope and contentment. He emphasizes the importance of theology, not as a dry academic exercise, but as a practical guide that informs Christian life and behavior. Dohm highlights how Mary's response to the angel Gabriel, who announced her divine pregnancy, exemplifies her unwavering faith and trust in God despite the significant personal challenges and societal pressures she faced. Through Mary's song, the Magnificat, Dohm illustrates her profound joy and contentment in God's promises. He calls upon the congregation to cultivate similar qualities of hope and contentment, urging them to prepare spiritually for life's inevitable tests of faith. By reflecting on Mary's example, Christians are encouraged to deepen their understanding of theology and to embrace God's will with trust and satisfaction.

The title this morning is profile of a godly woman Mary we're actually talking about the mother of our Lord Jesus Christ and We're continuing right down the track that we We started last night with our theme being hope and contentment in the life of a Christian woman. So we really want to focus our minds on hope and contentment. And now we're going to look at a woman from Scripture who really exhibits Christian hope and Christian contentment, which is, as we were talking last night, so different from worldly hope and worldly contentment. It's a good and precious thing to learn theology. We really should give ourselves to the study of theology.

Theology is just the study of something, right? But biology, theology, theology just means we're studying something. There's a topic to be studied. Theology means it's the study of God, so that's all it is. And so if you ever wonder whether you're a theologian or not, you should ask yourself if you're a Christian or not.

If you're a Christian, then you study God. It is our job for the rest of our days to study God, to know Him more and more, better and better. And so we really are all theologians in that sense. And so it's precious and important to study theology. After all, theology, our view of God and His truth, serves as a basis for our practice.

In other words, we go to the book and God reveals truth to us and that informs us about what our lives should look like. There's always an implication from theology. So it's not dry classroom learning. Theology should never for the Christian be dry classroom learning. This is our life.

Theology teaches us about Christ and how sinners can be cleansed and free before God. And so this should never be a sterile thing that we just come to as if it's an academic exercise and then we go away. It's always meant to bleed into life, meaning we learn and then our learning tells us what our lives and our practices and our patterns should look like. But when I learn theology, I'm always immediately thinking, what does that look like? What should the follow-on practice be from God revealing Himself in His truth?

What does that mean for my life? Where can I get some flesh and blood on that theology? Don't you think that way when preaching happens in church and a truth of scripture, a glorious truth of scripture is brought before you? Don't you think sometimes, how can I get some flesh and blood on that so that I know how this is supposed to come into my life and make me different than the average person who doesn't know the Lord? Well the Bible does that.

The Bible actually gives us flesh and blood for the revelation of God and the revelation of His truth that He gives us in theology. He also gives us the lives of saints. Human history didn't start on the day of my birth. I was born April 7th, 1970. There was a lot of human history before that.

And we know that, but often we don't think like that. We're very tied to the framework of our own personal experience. Well, the Bible wants to shake us out of that by giving us thousands of years of the history of the people of God, people who actually God raised up to use in redemptive history in different ways, and they actually put flesh and blood on the theology. They let us know what it looks like. And in many ways, Mary, the mother of our Lord Jesus Christ, puts flesh and blood on Christian hope and Christian contentment in the life of a woman.

So I'ma hope to draw that out. When we look at Mary, this isn't dry theology. This is rich practice, how theology comes into life and shows us how Christians live a life of Christian hope and Christians live a life of Christian contentment. Mary is this woman that God chose to be the mother of His Son. This should blow our minds.

So Mary's not a prominent character in Scripture. Meaning we don't see her very much and we don't know a lot about her, but she's a very important character in Scripture. And so we should pay attention. As we go study Mary, let's ask for the Lord to help us. God, I thank you for the flesh and blood examples of the truths that you teach us in Scripture.

I thank you that you not only reveal to us yourself and truth, but that you also show us through saints that you've raised up through thousands of years, you show us what these truths look like in the life of someone who has trusted in you in a saving way. Thank you for Mary, though She's not prominent, she's so important in the gospel accounts as a faithful woman who looked to you in trust in remarkable ways, in ways that when we look at them, we hardly can think we could do that ourselves. And so God, we pray that you would use this remarkable woman to build our faith, to cause us to have more confidence in you because of the confidence in you that was so evident in her life. Oh, please pour out your Spirit on us now and help us to love your words and to be moved by your word, to be changed by the hearing of it. Pray this in Jesus' name, amen.

Well Mary appears in fringe ways in several of the Gospels. When I say in fringe ways, I mean that she's mentioned, but she's not really in the focus of the text. I think That's by and large true of Matthew, Mark, and John, although she's a little more in John. But in Matthew, Mark, and John, you see her name in all three of those Gospel accounts, but she's really almost never the focus of the text in those gospel accounts. But Luke is different.

Luke chapter 1 is different. So I'd like to ask you to turn to Luke chapter 1 where we really get Mary in a richness and depth that we don't get anywhere else. Luke chapter 1. And I'm going to read verses 26 through 38 And then we'll develop the truth that's here. I'm actually going to stop short in verse 37 and talk about 26 through 37 and then we'll hit 38 separately.

I have a reason for doing that. It will become apparent. Luke chapter 1 starting in verse 26. Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph of the house of David. The virgin's name was Mary.

And having come in, the angel said to her, Rejoice, highly favored one! The Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women. But when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying and considered what manner of greeting this was. Then the angel said to her, Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.

And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a son, and shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Highest, and the Lord will give him the throne of his father David. And he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end. Then Mary said to the angel, How can this be, since I do not know a man? And the angel answered her and said to her, The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the highest will overshadow you.

Therefore, also that holy one who is to be born will be called the Son of God." Now indeed, Elizabeth, your relative, has also conceived a son in her old age, and this is now the sixth month for her who was called barren, for with God nothing will be impossible." Let's stop there for now. In this text, Gabriel is sent by God and he appears to Mary and she makes this amazing declaration of faith that we're going to see in a minute in verse 38. I can't really can't wait to get there. So this is the scene. Israel is the Lord's people.

These are the descendants of Father Abraham, had many sons, and many sons had Father Abraham. And now they're a nation of millions of people and they've been given their own land, but They're not completely autonomous, they're not completely self-governing, they're actually occupied by Rome so they don't have complete freedom, but there is some level of religious freedom at the time of Luke 1. There is a temple in the Gospel accounts we see Jesus and his family and the disciples going up and being part of the feasts that are established in the Old Covenant law in Deuteronomy. This is really, The people are at least free to do that. There's temple worship and the people of God are observing the feasts and they're at least saying they believe the law and they're trying to obey the law.

And the quote unquote best Jews are the ones who are known for their knowledge of the law and for keeping the law. In other words, they've given themselves to acquiring an understanding of the Old Testament. And they try really hard, at least outwardly, to keep it, and they're called the Pharisees. So during the time of Jesus, You have the Herodians, which are the Jews that are sort of in cahoots with the Roman occupiers, and you have the Sadducees, who are a small group, but they're disproportionately powerful and sort of a ruling class, but then you have the Pharisees. They're more of the common man and they take the law of God deadly serious and they're very precise, at least outwardly, in the keeping of it.

They're really sort of the quote unquote best Jews, although Jesus is going to come and sort of expose them for what they are. But at least they're serious about the law of God and learning it and then trying to keep it in outward ways. And now This is the scene where this young woman enters. Mary is likely in her early and mid-teens. The text doesn't say that, so if you want to disagree with that, I can't disagree with you because we don't have Bible authority for that.

All I would say is that early to mid-teens would be normal for marriage at this period of time in Israel. So maybe she's that. She's probably a young woman in any event. And Gabriel, the angel, appears to her and tells her, you're about to be pregnant, and it's not a pregnancy by Joseph, who you're betrothed to. Now, betrothal isn't dating.

And betrothal isn't even engagement. And engagement in our culture, if you walk away from an engagement short of the altar, it's heartbreaking and probably a lot of money is lost and a lot of family members are mad at each other, but legally, like, it's really not a problem. Betrothal in the New Testament in the time of Mary and Joseph was all the commitments had been made. Covenant has been entered into and if you break off an engagement, no problem. If you break off a betrothal, it is divorce.

When you're betrothed, at any time The man can bring the woman into his home and they can commence living together as married at any time because the commitments, the lifelong commitments have been made. So here's the good news from the angel. You're going to be pregnant, but it's not the man you're betrothed to. Here's the big question. How will Mary think of this?

Gabriel comes with wonderful promises. If she knows anything about the Old Testament, she has to know he's talking about the Messiah that God has been promising to send to deliver His people. This can describe no one else what Gabriel says. So for sure she recognizes, she knows how to translate, this is the promised Messiah. So these are wonderful promises, but how are you going to go and tell dad, I'm pregnant, it's not Joseph?

Joseph and I have not come together. Mom, I'm pregnant. It's not Joseph. There was an angel. Honest, there was an angel.

Joseph, I'm pregnant. Honest, it was an angel. Okay, is this good news? Now we can be very detached from this and say it's glorious news our Savior is here well she's paying the bill for that you know that okay easy for me and you in America in 2017 to say great news okay we don't have to go explain to dad and mom and to Joseph that we're pregnant but not from the man that she's betrothed to in Matthew chapter 1 it says that Joseph is a just man and so he's decided he's going to put her away quietly. That means that as much as he can, he's not going to publicly expose her and he's not going to try to have her stoned.

I understand the context. In John chapter 6 the Pharisees, right, the quote-unquote best Jews, the ones who take the law seriously, they cast a woman at Jesus' feet, like she was caught in adultery, like let's stone her. They're trying to trap her because they have this sense that Jesus is not going to have an appetite for stoning this woman. We don't have any time to get into that. But the point is, at the time when Gabriel is here saying, you're about to be pregnant, And it's not Joseph who you're betrothed to that the Holy Spirit of God is going to overshadow you so that people are going to know that he's the Son of God.

It's a virgin birth. She knows nothing about how Joseph is going to react. Now Matthew 1 tells us he's a just man and he's decided to put her away quietly, but she does not know that when Gabriel stands before her. And the context is the really good Jews would cast you down at the feet of those in authority or those who are prominent and say, let's stone her. This is a hope and contentment check, is it not?

Okay, like Here's the news Mary, now you have to go talk to Dad and Mom and Joseph, where's your hope? Do you really have a joyful, confident expectation in God or don't you? Are you content for God to take your ransom life and use it as He chooses or aren't you? Like this is the big test. This is where we come out of the abstract, out of theological study, and it comes into life and you see really what the condition of your heart is.

You might have been saying amen, amen, amen in all the sermons, but now these circumstances come into your life and the rubber hits the road and like is it or isn't it? This is really Mary's moment for is it or isn't it? Does Mary have an unshakable joyful expectation in God where this news can be good news? Is she content for God to have His way even though it brings significant hardship into her life? There's no other way to interpret this.

This news brings significant hardship into Mary's life. We say we believe this stuff, right? Isn't that what we say? We believe this stuff. Sometimes God brings circumstances to show us what's actually in our hearts.

And sometimes I pass the test, and sometimes I fail the test. But God has a way of bringing about these things to show us whether the things we've been saying, I believe, I believe, I believe, I believe, circumstances, I go in a different direction. Uh-oh, I didn't really believe that at all. Like I had a profession that My life doesn't really live up to. Look at verse 38 now.

Hopefully you still got a thumb or a finger in Luke chapter 1. Now look at verse 38. Then Mary said, behold, the maidservant of the Lord. Let it be to me according to your word." And the angel departed from her. So now just think of how rich this is in the context, okay?

What he's really told, if we were to translate what he said into implications in her life, what he's really said is, now you have to go talk to your dad, now you have to go talk to your mom, now you have to go talk to your betrothed Joseph to tell him, I'm pregnant and I got this story to tell. Now what is her reaction? Her reaction is, behold the maidservant of the Lord. I'm a servant of the Lord. If this is what God has marked out for me, I'm His servant.

I'm here to serve Him. This sounds so much like Peter and Paul as we've been studying them over the last years in 1 and 2 Peter, in 1 and 2 Thessalonians, our study of Philippians, isn't it? Like Peter, a bond servant of the Lord. Paul, Timothy, bond servants of Jesus Christ. Mary, a maid servant of the Lord.

Brothers and sisters this is all we are. Like this, he's ransomed our life and now we offer it back. Oh Lord use this ransomed life in any way you choose. Whatever you see fit, whatever would bring you glory, whatever would please you, even if it brings hardship into my life, let it be to me according to your word. You say and I will do.

This is Mary. Let this search your hearts, daughters. Let this be a microscope on your heart. Could you say this? This is beautiful.

Verse 38 is beautiful. I aspire to sit at Mary's feet and learn from her. I'm not the man to teach Mary. I'm the man to be taught by Mary. Think about her circumstances.

Joseph's impulse is to reject her. He's a just man, so he's going to reject her in the most favorable way towards her, but he's still rejecting her. He's going to put her away quietly. He's not going to call for her stoning, and he's not going to publicly humiliate her as much as he's able to and I'm not confident that she can avoid public humiliation with how this thing is going to play out when he rejects her okay but where's the fear like where's the fear Behold, the maid servant of the Lord, be it unto, let it be to me according to your word. Where's the discontentment that is longing for some other way?

You know, Moses, my God, I'm not very articulate. Find somebody else to do this. Right? He's standing at the burning bush. This is really a very similar moment.

Now Gabriel is here. Moses was actually in front of God himself in the burning bush and Moses says get somebody else. Like where is this Spirit of Mary? It's nowhere to be found. Her hope is in God.

She can see past the hardship to the promise and the promise is enough for her. And the promise satisfies her. She's content to have His will done, not her will. Isn't this what we're supposed to be praying isn't this what your will be done on earth as it is in heaven Jesus in Gethsemane not my will but your will This is the Mary has this spirit about her. Daughters ask this question, could I say this?

If this is the news I got, could I say this or would I be panicked at the thought of going to dad and mom and Joseph. When I put myself to that test, I have a hard time saying I wouldn't be panicked. So daughters, here's what we're saying. Look at Mary and cultivate this in your life. Go for this.

You want to angle towards as much as you can. You want to set things in motion that takes you in a direction so that when you get news like this, and life's not going to bring you exactly this news, but life is going to bring you news that will be your moment of test, testing. It will test your heart. And God is going to bring circumstance, Someday, tomorrow, next week, next month, next year, a decade from now, but it's coming, the moment when God brings circumstances into your heart to test whether the things you've been saying, amen, amen, I agree, I agree, I believe that, I believe that, Now you're faced with the circumstances. Do you believe it?

Do you believe it? Well about that. And we'll either pass or fail the test. But if you don't think the circumstances to test you are coming, you've not been reading your Bibles very carefully. You're coming.

Now look at verse 46. I'm going to read 46 through 56. In between, Mary has gone to visit Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist, in her pregnancy. It's wonderful too, but we're going to skip it for the sake of time. And Luke chapter 1 verses 46 through 56 is known as the Magnificat.

The Magnificat. It's Magnificat is Latin for magnifies. And it's because this, what Mary says here is she begins it by saying my soul magnifies the Lord so she's actually praising the Lord for how He's working in our life even though it's difficult. My soul magnifies the Lord." So it's called the Magnificat and that's Latin for magnifies. So whenever you'll every once in a while you'll run into that term, somebody will mention that, you'll know that's what it's talking about.

Mary's it's also called Mary's song the song of Mary. Let's read it. Follow along Luke 1 beginning in 40 46 and Mary said my soul magnifies the Lord and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior. For he has regarded the lowly state of his maidservant. For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed.

For he who is mighty has done great things for me and holy is his name and his mercy is on those who fear him from generation to generation. He has shown strength with his arm. He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. He has put down the mighty from their thrones and exalted the lowly. He has filled the hungry with good things and the rich he has sent away empty.

He has helped his servant Israel in remembrance of his mercy, as he spoke to our fathers to Abraham and to his seed forever. And Mary remained with her, with Elizabeth, about three months, and returned to her house. This is what hope in God looks like. You want flesh and blood for hope in God? Here it is before us.

We have a joyful, confident expectation that God is who He said He is, that He's doing what He promised He would do. This is contentment in God. This is what it looks like. You need a flesh and blood example of contentment in God, behold Mary and the Magnificat. She's believing His promises and counting it a blessing when You could look at it from the other side and say this is only difficult and hardship for me.

No, not Mary. Not Mary. This is, she's seeing all this through the eyes of faith in God. It is hope in God. It is contentment in His will.

This was an extraordinary, extraordinary woman, maybe in her early to mid teens. Does that raise the bar young daughters? Does that raise the bar? Does that raise the standard? We get so comfortable comparing ourselves among ourselves if we think we're in the top third.

Like the top third compared to what? Compared to other people around here? Like we're the standard now? No, no, no, look at Mary. She's 100% believing that God is sovereignly working and raising up the lowly, and that she's calling herself lowly here.

She's saying, God is blessing me. In what's happening in my life, God is raising up the lowly and he's putting down the proud and hard. This is the sovereign God at work. All of this was in her heart. So when the day of hardship and blessing came, she knew to say, this is blessing.

Many times the day of blessing is the day of hardship in disguise. That's what's happening in Mary's life. On a practical level there's going to be lots of hardship, lots of hardship. But she can see beyond that and see this is just the day of blessing in disguise. And the reason is, is because her heart had been made ready for this.

This is not something that just fell out of the sky on a person who wasn't prepared in any way and they just happened to react well. Please don't think of it that way. This is circumstances coming upon someone who's ready. Sometimes they come upon a person who's ready and sometimes they become come upon a person who's not ready and you can tell by how they deal with it. Everything about how she deals with it says she was ready and that means she had been made ready.

God raised her up to this. God made her ready for this. But she participated in that. I'm not saying it was magical. I'm saying God worked in her life in probably many of the same ways that he worked in our lives, and she was there participating in that, and when the day came, these things were so well established in her heart that this is what came out of her heart.

This is not a response that's different than what was already in her heart. This is an overflow of how God had worked in her life to establish Christian hope and Christian contentment. It was there and so we see it when the circumstances come. So when the circumstances come she's not filled with fear and regret, but with joy. My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior.

She's really, she's talking about the baby in her womb. My Spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior." She's really, she's talking about the baby in her womb. My spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior. Who is our Savior? Daughters ask yourself, do I have this level of satisfaction in God?

This just oozes satisfaction in God. Satisfaction in God. So her being able to see through the practical hardships that are now coming into her life to God my Savior. And it comes out in the magnification of God, the praising of God, the glorifying of God, satisfied that God would have His way, to use her ransomed life in the way that he chooses. So you ask yourself, do I have this level of satisfaction in God?

I answer that for myself, I'm not sure. I'm not sure. But if not, why not? Is God different? Is God less satisfying now than He was then?

Is God less faithful now than He was then? I mean, when I say that, even my own ears don't like it. So we know that's not true. We know that He's as satisfying today to this human soul as he was then. We know that he's as faithful now as he was then.

So this is settled in our minds, but what about in our hearts? Is it settled in our hearts? Have we said in in our lives that God is less satisfying now because of the other things that we're pursuing for satisfaction. Are you saying with your life that God is less satisfying now than he was to Mary in Luke chapter 1? These are searching things.

I feel the spotlight too. You should all feel it. Or was Mary a superhero? She's just a different class. I don't think this is what the Bible teaches.

I think the Bible is trying to pull us up to this. I think the flesh and blood example of Christian hope and Christian contentment is calling us to move forward to make progress in the faith. Finally, in Matthew chapter 2, and this would have been very shortly after the birth of Jesus and it's when Joseph and Mary take Jesus to the temple because He's their firstborn and they are to take him to the temple and make certain offerings to consecrate him as their firstborn and Simeon is there and God is revealed to Simeon that before he dies He's going to see the Messiah and God gives him the grace to recognize this is it. This is him. And Simeon says this at the end of that encounter, it's Matthew chapter 2, 34 and 35, Simeon says, behold, The child is destined for the fall and rising of many in Israel, for a sign which will be spoken against.

Yes, a sword will pierce through your soul also, Mary, that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed. So Simeon prophetically looks at Mary and says, a sword will pierce your soul also, Mary. He's speaking of Jesus' death. When a mother outlives her children, it is a sword through her soul. And in John 19, this is exactly what we see in John 19 verse 25, there is Mary at the cross, okay, And a sword is piercing her soul.

She's a mother outliving her son, her firstborn son. But she not only exhibited Christian hope and Christian contentment early in her life, there she is, 33 years later. Not running, not running, she's there. She's there with her son. She persevered.

Praise the Lord for the example of His maidservant. Daughters. Go for this. You can have this. You can have this.

God is as satisfying today. You will find God to be as faithful today as Mary found him to be in her lifetime. Go for this. You can have it. This is attainable.

We can have this kind of Christian hope. We can have this kind of Christian hope. We can have this kind of Christian contentment. I have one application and only one. Daughters, Cultivate Christian hope and Christian contentment now so that you'll be ready then.

Are you with me? Did you hear what I said? Cultivate this in your life. Grow it like a gardener. Pick out the weeds around it and water it and fertilize it and nurture it and grow it like you're like you're gardening.

Cultivate Christian hope, joyful, confident expectation in God. Cultivate Christian contentment that says, oh father use this ransom life in any way that you choose. Cultivate it now so that you'll be ready then. The day of testing is coming. You don't know when it is.

It could be tomorrow. It could be a decade from now. But if you're not cultivating it now, that's not what will flow out of your heart then. The day of testing came upon Mary and she proved herself ready. She made herself ready.

God worked in her life to make her ready. All these things are true. I'm not saying different things. She made herself ready. Amen, true.

God worked in her life to make her ready. Amen, true. These things are true. We're there participating in this. The world is a mighty rushing river pulling you to discouragement, not hope, and to discontentment, not contentment.

Daughters, daughters, the world is a mighty rushing river pulling you to discouragement, not hope, not a joyful confident expectation in God. The world is a rushing river pulling you away from joyful, confident expectation in God. And it is a mighty rushing river pulling you to discontentment. You could be so much more. Michael mentioned that last night the sirens calling.

This actually comes out of Homer's The Iliad and he's on a ship And they're coming to a place where the sirens are. Sirens are mythical creatures that sing in a seductive voice and they actually say that they call the ships to where the rocks are and the ships are dashed on the rocks and everyone will be lost. And if you listen to the sirens call, they will charm you with their seductive music. That's what it means to hear the siren call. The sirens are these mythical women creatures that sing these beautiful, seductive songs that are irresistible, and they draw you to the rocks.

This is what the world does. You could be so much more a stay-at-home mom. Somebody's right and somebody's wrong. Okay. And you can't have both.

You can't have both. It infuriates me. It infuriates me that the world says you can have it all when I know that's a lie. When they say you can have it all. Oh yeah.

Hey, you can just, you can just part-time that home stuff. Yeah. Just take care of it as kind of a hobby. And you'll be, your home will be just the same. Okay?

That the world is a mighty rushing river pulling in the other direction means that if you're just floating, you'll be swept away into discouragement and into discontentment. It means that you have to swim upstream with all your might. There is no floating to godliness in this world and it's not getting better, it's getting worse. I'm 47 now. It doesn't make me old, but it makes me older.

I've got a lot more gray hairs now than I used to and I've seen more of life than I've used to. And I can tell you, it's harder for women now. The river is rushing much faster now than 30 years ago. No question about it. The river's rushing.

It means you have to swim harder upstream. If you're going to claim what God has for you, if you're going to believe scripture, you have to decide, Do I believe it or do I not believe it? This middle place has you just floating. This middle place has you just floating. I sort of believe it.

You know, if you sort of believe it, I have not much hope for you because of how fast the current is going. And it seems like it's faster every year. The world used to be so subtle in its contradictions to the world of God. All subtlety is gone now. It's just open warfare against the truth of God's Word now.

Which in a way is good. It makes the choice so stark. The world is dispensed with subtlety. I thank God for Mary. I thank God for a woman who when faced with the practical difficulties of this message would say, behold the maid servant of the Lord, Let it be to me according to your word.

Daughters may God give you this spirit. Father, thank you for Luke chapter 1. Thank you for raising up this remarkable woman that we aspire to be like. The men aspire to have her spirit and the women do too. God, make us, use our ransom lives in any way that you choose.

God, give us Christian hope in abundance. Give us Christian contentment in abundance. Bless our daughters. Please help them in this mighty rushing river, please help them to swim with all their might to claim the beauty of what you have for them, the joy of what you have for them in this life. We pray in Jesus name, amen.

Thank you.