Problems be gone

" Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not wanting to make her a public example, was minded to put her away secretly"
Matthew 1:19

Put yourselves in Joseph's shoes for a moment. If your soon to be wife was suddenly pregnant, your first thought would be she slept with someone else. Imagine the frustration, anger, disappointment that Joseph must be feeling at that moment.
Joseph did not understand that the child Mary bore was of the Holy Spirit. He wanted to take matters into his own hands. "Put her away secretly"---> does that mean he wanted to kill her, stone her, lock her up? Joseph leaned on his own understanding of the situation and tried to solve it himself. He didn't know that God has a greater plan, that through Mary a King will be born. Can you imagine the consequences if Joseph had gotten rid of Mary and the child?

Often we see ourselves faced with frustrations and disappointments. We try with our own understanding to make sense of these situations and we try to solve them on our own. We forget that God is our helper in time of need and all we need to do is look to him and seek His guidance. We need to remember that He has our lives in his hands and he has got good plans for us.

Father in heaven, I pray that you will help us get a kingdom mentality and lean not on our own understanding when situations arise. Help us to focus on you and not on our situations. I pray for your guidance in each and every part of our lives. Amen.