We don’t know exactly how old Mary was when the angel announced she would become the mother of the Messiah. She knew women did not become pregnant without an intimate relationship with a man. She knew this hadn’t happened to her. So how could she become pregnant? Impossible!

In conception a male gamete actually fuses with a female gamete to create a cell with all the genetic information necessary for the development of a multi-trillion-cell human body. The male and female gametes each have only half the genetic information necessary to begin a life. Yet in this one extraordinary case, Mary was told that the Holy Spirit would miraculously provide what was missing.

With childlike trust, Mary received this incredible news. Maybe her youthful faith helped her believe the impossible could happen. Certainly the story of her people’s miraculous and equally impossible deliverance from Egypt helped her believe too. But in the end, Mary simply accepted the word of God from the angel (v. 38).

When the barrier or obstacle in front of us seems impossible, we need to remember Jesus’ words: “What is impossible with men is possible with God” (Luke 18:27 NIV). I am always encouraged by the words of the old hymn: “The Lord will make a way somehow, when beneath the cross I bow.”