In today’s world, women are pushed up against two realities. The first is that they still often exist in the shadows of men. The other is that they are bombarded by messages of all kinds about how to live: messages about power and rights and bodies. Secular voices on these matters stand in stark contrast to how scripture invites women to be in the world. Yes, there are power scales to be balanced, but we don’t fight with the world’s weapons (2 Cor. 10:3-4). The God we worship does battle differently.This week we will wrap up our Advent series on women who held prominent places in the birth of Jesus. If Bathsheba and Mary were to walk the earth today, they would no doubt be encouraged to consider their “rights” and their “bodies” in bearing children they did not ask for. But these are not women who fall for easy outs. They are women who fall in line with the God of Israel who promises to lead them out even when all feels lost.The child of one woman will redeem the other’s story. We will find that even when power is mis-used, God will grow a new Branch for David’s family, one who will “bear fruit from the old root” (Isaiah 11:1).