Two From Galilee was our last book of 2023, which is ironic because it is a book of beginnings. Please join Kate and Sheila as they discuss the beauty of this behind the scene love story of Joseph and Mary. Marjorie Holmes slows the well-known epic event down so readers can get a glimpse of their customs that are so vastly different from those of today. Readers get to experience the emotions and struggles in the life of the young Jewish girl that was chosen by God to be the mother of Jesus. Yes, His virgin birth was predicted, but when it occurred was it recognized or questioned or criticized?

We get to walk with Joseph in his uncertainty of what to do. What a wonderful example of trusting God in all things as Joseph prays, “Oh, God, my God, if this be thy will then so be it. Thy will be done!” This has the same humble tone as Jesus's prayer in the garden the night before He was betrayed.

Mary’s prayer was similar. “Thy will be done,” she whispered one final time, “In this matter of Joseph, let me only obey.”

Mary and Joseph loved each other but pleasing God came before pleasing themselves. What a timely lesson in straightening out our priorities that often get out of alignment!

Joseph was distraught when he was unable to find accommodations, but afterward that thought was pushed aside. “He need berate himself no longer. He had not failed her. Her son had been safely born, and he had helped to bring him forth. So that made him in a new and wondrous sense his son too.”

What a wonderful way to wrap up 2023 and deepen our conviction of always putting God’s will foremost in our lives!