Fearless Faith: What Mary's Story Teaches Us About Facing Rejection

Title: "Fearless Faith: What Mary's Story Teaches Us About Facing Rejection"

Description: Ever wondered how a teenage girl found the courage to say yes to God's impossible plan? In this powerful episode, Rhonda Stoppe unpacks Mary's remarkable story of fearless faith when the angel Gabriel appeared with life-changing news.

Discover how Mary navigated the terrifying possibility of rejection—from her fiancé Joseph, her parents, and her entire community. Rhonda shares the beautiful moment when Mary's cousin Elizabeth confirmed God's miraculous work, and explores why obedience to God doesn't always mean an easy path.

Through personal stories (including a hilarious wedding dress shopping tale) and biblical wisdom, Rhonda addresses the reality of rejection we all face as mothers and women. She tackles false prosperity gospel teachings head-on, reminding us that following Christ requires taking up our cross—even when it feels impossibly heavy.

If you're recovering from betrayal, abandonment, or the deep wounds of rejection, this episode offers hope. Learn how to trust God's plan even when you can't see the outcome, and discover that Jesus understands your sorrow intimately. Your tears don't go unnoticed—He gathers every single one.

Perfect for moms navigating difficult seasons, seeking courage for the unknown, or simply needing a reminder that fearless faith is possible even in our brokenness.

Read more about Mary's Fearless Faith in Rhonda's new book: Moms of the Bible: Life-Changing Lessons from the Fearless, Flawed and Faithful

Watch on Rhonda's YouTube Channel ALL of Rhonda's teaching videos on each chapter of the book on the Moms of the Bible PlaylistL Rhonda Stoppe No Regrets Woman YouTube Channel

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"This podcast is for the purpose of mentoring only and is not a replacement for therapy. We suggest you seek out the help of a trained biblical counselor for help with your specific situation.”

Transcript

Rhonda Stoppe [00:00:01]:
Hi, welcome to chapter three of Moms of the Bible. We're going to today talk about Mary. When rejection breaks your heart, picture this. On an ordinary day, Mary was just planning her wedding with Joseph, and all of a sudden an angel, Gabriel, shows up and he says, guess what? You are the one that God is going to use to be the mother of the Messiah. Wow. Mary was young. I mean, historically, women got married very young. Back then, mostly as soon as they started menstruating, their father found them a spouse.

Rhonda Stoppe [00:00:36]:
And Mary had already been betrothed to Joseph. So this young teenage girl had been met by an angel. And I love that her first response is, how can this be when I have known not a man? I love that she asks God the right questions, but she asks not in a. In a. In a rebellious way. She's very curious about how this could happen. And then at one point, she finally tells Gabriel, let it be as you let it be unto your servant as you have said. She didn't know Mo.

Rhonda Stoppe [00:01:09]:
I'm sorry. Joseph wasn't with her when this was being told to her. She didn't know if Joseph was going to believe her. She didn't know if her. If her parents were going to believe her. She had to break this news to her betrothed and hope that he would believe the story of an angelic angel that came to tell her that she was the one who God had chosen to be the mother of Messiah. Fear of rejection. I gotta tell you, I think we all have had times when we have fear of rejection.

Rhonda Stoppe [00:01:36]:
I tell the story in this chapter. It's kind of funny. When Steve and I were engaged to be married, I was going shopping for wedding dresses and I wanted this big, huge hat veil thing. It was in the 80s and I thought it was the coolest thing, this big, huge hat. And then the veil came over it. So regret that veil now. But he didn't want me to have that. He said, I don't want you to.

Rhonda Stoppe [00:01:56]:
I don't want you to wear your hair up in a bun, and I don't want you to have that big hat bail. You want to be. Wear hair down and a soft little veil. I'm like, okay. And then I went off wedding dress shopping with my mom. And this was back in the olden days, back in the 1900s when you didn't have a cell phone. So all of a sudden I get. I'm in the dressing room with a wedding gown on, and the bridal shop girl finds me.

Rhonda Stoppe [00:02:17]:
She says, your name Rhonda. And I said, yeah. She said, you have a phone call. I'm like, I do. And she said, it's your fiance. I'm like, oh, okay. And I know she thought he was calling me to call off the engagement. Like, don't buy the dress.

Rhonda Stoppe [00:02:28]:
I don't want to marry you. And I was kind of like. So I went and picked up the phone, and it was Steve. And he said, I've called all over town trying to find you. Back in those days, you literally pulled out the yellow pages. It's a phone book. And you looked up bridal shops. And he called all of them until he found me.

Rhonda Stoppe [00:02:44]:
And I said, yeah. And he said, I just wanted to tell you, if you want to wear that big hat veil thing, go ahead. I don't want to spoil that for you. And I was so excited, so happy, and I thanked him. And when I went back to the dressing room, the bride shop lady, I don't know what you call her, the bridal shop person, she was like, kind of looks scared. And I said, he just told me I could get that hat veil. She goes, oh, I totally thought he was going to cancel the engagement. I said, I know that's what you thought, but how scary, right? I can only imagine Mary wondering the same thing.

Rhonda Stoppe [00:03:15]:
And if you don't know the story, if you didn't read the chapter, Elizabeth had gotten pregnant in her old age, her first and only child. And so Elizabeth was there. And in walks Mary, her cousin. And Elizabeth said the baby leapt within her. The baby was filled. John, John the Baptist was filled with the Holy Spirit and leapt within Elizabeth's womb. And Elizabeth cries out something like, how is it that the mother of my Lord is here to visit me? I can only imagine how grateful Mary would have been that this older woman, this cousin, believed her and confirmed for her that she knew the Holy Spirit had confirmed for her also that the miraculous baby she was carrying, John the Baptist, had leapt within her womb, affirming that Mary was carrying her Savior and Lord. How kind of the Lord.

Rhonda Stoppe [00:04:00]:
And if you don't know the story, if you didn't read the chapter, Elizabeth had gotten pregnant in her old age, her first and only child. And so Elizabeth was there. And in walks Mary, her cousin. And Elizabeth said the baby leapt within her. The baby was filled. John, John the Baptist was filled with the Holy Spirit and leapt within Elizabet, Elizabeth's womb. And Elizabeth cries out something like, how is it that the mother of my Lord is here to visit me? I can only imagine how grateful Mary would have been that this older woman, this cousin, believed her and confirmed for her that she knew the Holy Spirit had confirmed for her also that the miraculous baby she was carrying, John the Baptist, had leapt within her womb, affirming that Mary was carrying his, her Savior and Lord. How kind of the Lord.

Rhonda Stoppe [00:04:50]:
And in that time Moses, I keep saying Moses. Sorry, I was talking about him in the last chapter. Joseph, God gave him a dream and an angel came to Joseph and said, don't be afraid to take Mary as your wife because that baby in her really is from the Lord. Mary stayed with her cousin for quite a while and I can only imagine both of these women, it was their first pregnancy. I have daughters that have been pregnant together, my daughters and my daughter in law all pregnant together and they're all sharing their, you know, what's happening with their bodies and talking about the different things that they're experiencing. I can only imagine these two women just enjoyed that time together talking about their pregnancies. And at the same time, Elizabeth's husband was there, but he couldn't talk because the, the angel had struck him mute because he did not believe that Elizabeth was going to get pregnant with this baby. So he's not even able to talk.

Rhonda Stoppe [00:05:40]:
So these women I can imagine just had the best time talking until right about the time Elizabeth was ready to deliver. And then Mary went back home and that's when Joseph took her to be his wife. What a story. Can you imagine what it went through all of that Mary's mind? Why did she have the courage to trust God? Why was she courageous? Mary faced potentially losing her spouse, potentially not having her parents believe her. We never really know if her parents believed her or not. We do know that people didn't believe her. And for the rest of her life there was a stigma about her that she had gotten pregnant out of wedlock. But she courageously presented herself as the maid servant of the Lord and she surrendered to his plan for her life.

Rhonda Stoppe [00:06:26]:
When Mary had no way of knowing how the decision was going to affect her future, her fearless faith was displayed when she yielded herself to God. I love her inquiry to Gabriel because it reveals her desire to clearly grasp God's ways. And Gabriel's response. First he explained the how, the who and the hope that she desperately needed the how. The Holy Spirit will come upon you. Luke 1:35, the who. Therefore the Holy One who is to be born, will be called the Son of God, verse 35 of that same chapter. And then he told her in verse 36, the other who is Elizabeth, your relative has also conceived in her old age.

Rhonda Stoppe [00:07:09]:
And she's now in her sixth month. And the hope verse 37 With God, nothing is impossible. I love that Mary trusted God's miraculous plan. But what happened then was things got surprisingly difficult. I want to believe that because she obeyed God, he made it easy for her. But as the story unfolds, it wasn't easy. People questioned her reputation and she was even afraid that Joseph wasn't going to believe her. I want to make you take some time here to warn you.

Rhonda Stoppe [00:07:39]:
There are false teachers that want to tell you that if you obey God, everything will always go well for you. That God wants everything for you to be healthy, wealthy and prosperous. And that's just not true. It's tempting to believe that false claim come to Jesus for an easier life. That narrative has taken up root in so many churches today. But the truth is that following Christ is not easy. And it requires faith, fearless faith. Jesus asks you and I to take up our cross and follow him.

Rhonda Stoppe [00:08:07]:
That cross is burdensome. But Jesus said, my yoke is easy and my burden is light. He knew the path he was going to walk to Calvary. And he calls us to carry the weight of our cross and carry it even sometimes when it feels like it's more than we can handle. Paul's perspective I love this. He says in 2 Corinthians 4:16,18 we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light and momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison as we look not to the things that are seen, but to the things that are unseen.

Rhonda Stoppe [00:08:49]:
For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. When we walk in obedience to God's will, he will grant you and me the strength to endure. Even when it seems too burdensome, he will carry the burden with you. Mary's courage gave her the privilege of being the woman that would raise the Son of God. I love how Mary remembered the word of the Lord. She went back to what God had told her. She did not allow rejection or the fear of rejection to pull her away. She became fearless and followed the plan that God had for her life.

Rhonda Stoppe [00:09:34]:
She rested in the promise that the Gabriel the angel had said to her. With God, nothing will be impossible. Luke 1:37 Mama, sometimes people let you down. As a mom, there's seasons of peace and there's seasons of pain. When pain comes from abandonment, it's almost unbearable. If one or both of your own parents weren't there for you, it can leave a deep hole in your heart. And sadly, more often than not, it can cause us to feel that rejection. And it can visit in how we even raise our own children.

Rhonda Stoppe [00:10:07]:
If you're recovering from a betrayal of a friend or a family member, or if you're in a place of picking up the pieces of being abandoned by a parent or a spouse, please know that you're not alone. We live in a broken world, and sin is crouching at the door of our hearts, ready to ruin our lives and destroy our families. The pain of rejection cuts deep. Jesus understands your sorrow. He has been there too, and he is there to comfort you in your grief. Remember, the Bible says in Hebrews chapter four that we have a great high priest who's passed through the same experiences that we have. He's experienced at all points, has been tempted, such as we have been tempted. God sent his son into a broken world.

Rhonda Stoppe [00:10:51]:
Jesus lived on earth. He was acquainted with our grief, and I love what David said in Psalm 56:8. You've kept count of my tossings. You've put my tears in your bottle; are they not written in your book? Jesus sees your tossing and you're turning when you're trying to sleep. He knows the depth of your sorrow. And not one of your tears goes unnoticed by our Savior. He gathers them in his bottle. One day in God's timing, He will use your pain for a greater good that you know nothing about.

Rhonda Stoppe [00:11:22]:
But I promise it's good. Trust the process. Lean into Christ amidst the agony. Rely on his word and let his spirit heal your wounded soul. Down through the ages, God's servants have endured rejection and sorrow. When others revile you, His Spirit is there to comfort you. And God in His kindness, he sends people to comfort you. He will offer you wisdom, people who will weep with you.

Rhonda Stoppe [00:11:48]:
I love Apostle Paul's words to 2nd Timothy 1:4 as I remember your tears, I long to see you that I need be filled with joy. Sometimes the best way you and I can he comfort a hurting friend is to say, I see your tears and I'm crying with you. Mary's example of fearless trust in God, even at the threat of rejection, invites us to reflect on our own life of faith. Mary was courageous when she stepped into the unknown. And she valiantly, all by her little self, said yes to God's invitation to be the mother of Jesus. Mary's unwavering trust in his plan, it demonstrated demonstrated a profound courage. And her courage still resonates with us today. Mama, as you navigate life's challenges and faith steps along the way.

Rhonda Stoppe [00:12:44]:
Be inspired, respond with similar courage and trust in God. Know God. Know him for who he is, for who he has revealed Himself to be in Scripture. Remember that his purpose and his plan hands cannot be thwarted. Oh Mom. Be inspired to step out in confidence to completely trust God, because He is the One who will equip you in this incredible calling of motherhood to what he has called you. He will equip you and he has called you to be the mother of your children. And if you seek him and serve him and follow him with courageous faith, you will become a vessel of honor, hope, and a life transforming faith that will make the impossible seem possible.

Rhonda Stoppe [00:13:31]:
Thanks so much. See you in the next chapter.