Spiritual Strength

     As I read through the account of the revealing of the conception of Christ to Joseph in Matthew Chapter 1 this time, I was struck by his faith even more than I had been before. I believe that this may be because of some of the aspects of the story that I had not recognized previously. First, I had not considered his spiritual standing before. Second, I had not really thought about his initial reaction to the news of Mary’s pregnancy. Finally, these thought lead to a greater understanding of how Joseph actually responded to the Spirit and what the promptings of the Spirit and angels meant to him as well as how I can incorporate these into my life.
     As I’ve read through this account before, I gave little though to what kind of a man Joseph was. It wasn’t until reading through this time that I thought about what kind of man he must have been before all of this happened. Heavenly Father would not have chosen him to be the earthly father of Christ if he was not a man of faith. Putting the Savior into a righteous home would have been of the utmost importance. Joseph shows this faith as he acts on the counsel of the angels that visit him and as he does all that is asked of him.
      However, it was important for me to see that even though he was a righteous man, his first impulse upon learning that Mary was pregnant was not what God wanted him to do. Even the person that was chose to be the earthly father of God, a righteous man, did not have his will always line up with what God wanted of him. None of us are perfect, obviously, and each of us can do better to have our will match His. The most important part of this realization for me was that he completely changed his mind upon learning what God wanted of him. He went from choosing a divorce to marrying Mary. Once he knew the will of God, he did just as he was asked.
     To me this shows great faith and spiritual sensitivity. Twice Joseph was led by God in a dream. Twice he listened. Joseph was in tune enough with God that he was ready to listen to Him through his dreams. God knew that these dreams would be seen for what they were and would be treated as sacred counsel. He knew that Joseph would hold dear what he was given. That speaks of great faith.
     For me, this all lead to two great attributes of Joseph that I would like to have: the ability to hear and listen to the Spirit and faith to act on those promptings. My life is in a challenging transition period. I am often asking to know the Lord’s will for me. I feel like sometimes I have to remind myself that I must be ready and willing to act on what the Lord reveals to me.   This readiness and willingness is something that I have prayed often for, for revelation is essential to navigating this life