Today is December 26, 2025, and I thought I’d share the day’s devotional from my book, Tenacity at Christmas: 31 Daily Devotions for December.
All who heard the shepherds’ story were astonished, but Mary kept all these things in her heart and thought about them often.
Luke 2:18-19, NLT*
The shepherds saw wonders. Mary herself saw wonders! She held the Wonder of the world in her arms.
Do you think what she experienced in Bethlehem helped her keep hoping in the difficult days ahead? Surely it helped her worship this God who loved and chose her. She’d already seen Him provide, and she knew He wouldn’t abandon her and Joseph now.
Let’s be encouraged and inspired by Mary’s humble sense of obedience and trust. Let’s consciously keep in our hearts those precious times we’ve seen God touch our lives, and think about them often.
Maybe as we begin a new year it’s time to start (or re-start) a journal for gratitude or to track answered prayer. Or perhaps it’s time for a fresh commitment to keep watch for “God moments” in our days.
Precious, loving God, You are so kind in the ways You involve Yourself in my daily life. Whether it’s something major like Your call on Mary’s life or something as simple as helping me find a lost item, please help me recognize Your care. Help me keep these things in my own heart and think about them often, especially when the times of trouble come. May my spirit be kept in Your perfect peace because I know I can trust in You.
*Scripture quotations marked NLT are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright ©1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
