When Faith Finds You – Lessons from Mary’s Journey

Vessel Church
May 12
4 min read

Updated: May 20

Watch sermon "When Faith Finds You" from Senior Pastor Daniel Macaluso on YouTube.

Have you ever felt completely unqualified for what God was calling you to do?

Maybe you’ve sensed a nudge from the Holy Spirit—a challenge to step out, take a risk, forgive someone, start something new, or surrender something hard. And your first reaction? “Me? Really? I’m not ready for this.”

If that’s you, then you’re in good company. Because that’s exactly where we find Mary in Luke 1.

Faith Doesn’t Always Knock—Sometimes It Shows Up with a Mission

Mary was young. Unmarried. Engaged. And then suddenly, face-to-face with the angel Gabriel. “Greetings, favored woman! The Lord is with you.” (Luke 1:28, CSB). What a statement! And yet verse 29 tells us Mary was deeply troubled. Who wouldn’t be?

Then came the call: “You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus… He will be called the Son of the Most High” (vv. 31–32).

This wasn’t a polite invitation. It wasn’t a job application or a survey asking, “Are you available?” No, this was a divine assignment—and Faith found Mary.

When Faith Finds You

Mary didn’t go looking for this moment. She wasn’t sending in resumes to be the mother of the Messiah. Faith came to her door. The question was: how would she respond?

What strikes me most is her humility. Her bravery. Her trust. “See, I am the Lord’s servant,” she says in verse 38. “May it happen to me as you have said.”

What Mary risked in saying “yes” is hard for us to even grasp today—her reputation, her engagement, her family relationships, possibly even her life under the law. But still, she said yes.

She risked it all… and chose obedience.

Faith didn’t wait for Mary to feel ready. And Faith won’t wait for you, either. It finds us in the middle of life’s interruptions. The question is—when Faith finds you, will you be ready?

Faith Isn’t a One-Time Event

But Mary’s faith journey didn’t end with her “yes.” In Mark 3, we get a glimpse of her wrestling with what Jesus’ ministry was becoming. Verse 21 says His own family thought He was “out of his mind.” Later, in verse 31, she comes looking for Him—and Jesus responds by pointing to those who “do the will of God” as His true family.

That had to sting. That wasn’t the Jesus she raised. Wasn’t the story she had envisioned.

Have you ever said yes to God, only to later question what you signed up for?

Mary knew that feeling.

She lost her husband. She raised Jesus as a single mother. She watched her miracle son be misunderstood, hated, arrested, and crucified. What started with angelic promises ended at the foot of a bloody cross. But Mary didn’t walk away. She stayed. She didn’t just birth the promise—she bore the pain of it, too.

That’s real faith.

Faith Is 24/7

We often treat faith like a Sunday workout—an hour here, a prayer there. But faith isn’t a gym membership. It’s a lifestyle. It doesn’t build overnight; it builds over time—through trials, tears, trust, and surrender.

Mary stayed faithful through the womb, the gloom, and the empty tomb. And in Acts 1, we find her still there—“continually united in prayer” (v. 14), counted among the early disciples after the resurrection. She didn’t quit when it got hard. She fought for her faith. She showed up in the upper room.

She was there at the beginning. She was there at the end. And she was there for what came next.

Was She Grateful?

I imagine Mary, old and gray, sitting in the church at Ephesus with John the apostle, reflecting on her journey. I believe she was grateful—not just for the miracle, but for the moments of mystery. For the times she didn’t understand but trusted anyway. For the grace that carried her when she was weak.

Was she grateful she accepted the call? Absolutely.

Was she grateful Jesus didn’t compromise, even when she didn’t understand Him?

Without a doubt.

Was she grateful she was faithful to the end? Yes—and we should be, too.

So Where Has Faith Found You?

Maybe Faith has found you in a moment of calling—something new, something uncertain. Or maybe it’s found you in the struggle—in the waiting, the loss, the confusion. Or maybe, like Mary in Acts, Faith has brought you to a place of deeper prayer and community.

Wherever you are, let me remind you of this: Faith finds us not because we’re qualified, but because God is merciful.

As Ephesians 2 says, “But God, who is rich in mercy… made us alive with Christ… You are saved by grace!” (vv. 4–5). Faith finds us because of God’s great love—and when we respond, He does something miraculous through us.

So today, let’s ask ourselves: