Gabriel Predicts Jesus’s Birth

BY Amanda Bible Williams

In the Williams house, music matters. There’s a song for every occasion, a lyric for every emotion, and a soundtrack for every season. We listen to a wide range of music and in a variety of ways—in the car with the windows rolled down, on a vinyl record player in the living room, even via cassette tape (yes, really). But as any music lover will testify, nothing beats experiencing the songs you love performed live by the artists who create them. 

So naturally, when my twin sons saw their all-time favorite band in concert for the first time a few weeks ago, it was a very big deal. The date held its place on the family calendar for a full year. When it finally arrived, dinner plans were made, band t-shirts were donned, the merch booth was visited on the way into (and out of) the arena. And for three hours on a school night, two kids had the joy of being swept up into a new experience of the songs they knew by heart.

Dimension and perspective can bring new depth and richness to what we already know. That’s what this reading plan did for me. It helped me to see anew the unchanging beauty and glory of Jesus.

For the first time as a She Reads Truth community, we will spend a full study focusing our reading on three of the four Gospels in Scripture: Matthew, Mark, and Luke. Collectively known as the Synoptic Gospels, these three books of the Bible were written by three different people, from three unique perspectives, to record the life of Jesus on Earth. 

By synthesizing these three narratives, we’ll read about the different movements of Jesus’s life and ministry, learning not just from what He taught, but how He lived. We’ll see how Jesus—fully God and fully human—lived, how He responded to the people around Him, and how He interacted with God the Father. Together, we will look to Scripture to learn about Jesus and from Jesus, inviting His life to shape our own. 

As I imagine you starting this reading plan, I’m reminded of what our teammate Hannah said in the early stages of developing it. “I found myself getting lost in the story,” she marveled, and we all nodded our heads in agreement. The true story of the life and person of Jesus captivated us anew, and we pray it captivates you too.