Send to KindleBy Suzanne D Williams
I wrote A MIRACLE FOR MARI thinking of a sixteen-year-old girl I know in a similar circumstance, and in considering her, I had a revelation. Mary, the mother of Jesus, was the same age. This 
deeply affected my heart because judgment today for this girl who I love is as hard to hear as I can imagine judgment was then for a girl set to bear the Savior of the world.
What was it like to face the man who you were promised to marry and tell him you’d seen an angel who said you’d bear the Christ? Sounds foolish, doesn’t it? Similarly, what was it like for Joseph to hear it and make a choice to either save face, and maybe damage someone he cared for, or jump in with both feet and protect her? Life-changing.
God’s love, which came to earth under unusual circumstances, extends today to “whosoever” will come, and His forgiveness is all inclusive. Even for the teen boy or girl now faced with parenthood. We, adults, need to remember that, and extend the grace and mercy, Jesus died and rose again to bring.
We need to be different from the world. Set apart, peculiar, and react with the characteristics of love given in 1 Corinthians 13:4-8: patient; kind; not envious; not boastful; not arrogant; not rude; not easily upset; not happy with wrong, but seeking right; trusting; hoping; and enduring.
Those things are, after all, the essence of Christmas.
BLURB:
I’m pregnant.”
All the air left his chest in a whoosh. Opening and closing his mouth, he sought for breath that wouldn’t come. Then his legs gave way, and he sank onto the tile in the hallway.
Pregnant. Mari was pregnant.
—–
A fall from grace. A miracle of life. A gift of forgiveness.
Mari Tatum has a secret. Forced to be Mary, the mother of Jesus, in the church play, she finds herself working alongside Shay McNab, the very boy she’s keeping a secret from.
Yet in the story of Christ’s birth, she finds that in God’s hands her fall from grace can become a miracle.
A MIRACLE FOR MARI
Suzanne D. Williams
From best-selling author, SUZANNE D. WILLIAMS, a Christian novella dealing with teen pregnancy and the true meaning of the season.
EXCERPT:
Miss Margaret rambled on. But none of it entered his hearing. Focused on Mari’s face, suddenly all the things he hadn’t said to her sat there like lead.
Jittery, he rubbed his fingers up and down his pants leg.
She didn’t want to speak to him. He could never apologize enough. But what if he didn’t apologize at all? She’d remember that. He could offer … something, some kind of I’m sorry.
The clock turned ten and Miss Margaret finished her speech. She set practice for Tuesday evening at seven o’clock and dismissed. Mari rose from her chair and scooted out the doorway without looking back.
Determined to speak to her, Shay followed and caught up to her a few paces down the hall. “Mari, stop.” Snagging her arm, he pulled her to a halt. Her skin warmed beneath his fingers.
She yanked her arm free and turned.
“I know you hate me, and I deserve it,” he said. ‘I can’t ever take it back, but if I could …”
Her lip quivered and her breathing became uneven. “You have no idea what you’ve done,” she whispered.
Yes, he did. He’d ruined them and broken her heart.
“I shouldn’t have told anyone,” he blurted. “It was between us.”
“It was wrong.” She emphasized each word.
“Yes, it was, but Mari, I … I love you.”
Her words spiked into him. “You loved yourself more.”
She backed away, and with each inch between them, his insides ached stronger. She turned the corner, and he pressed a hand to his chest. Was the pain in his chest real or was this just the feeling you got
A MIRACLE FOR MARI
Suzanne D. Williams
when your life had fallen apart?
Best-selling author, Suzanne D. Williams, is a native Floridian, wife, mother, and photographer. She is the author of both nonfiction and fiction books. She writes a monthly column for Steves-Digicams.com on the subject of digital photography, as well as devotionals and instructional articles for various blogs. She also does graphic design for self-publishing authors.
To learn more about what she’s doing visit http://suzanne-williams-photography.blogspot.com/ or link with her on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/suzannedwilliamsauthor.
Jessica Everingham
/ January 25, 2014I’m really intrigued by the idea behind your story – and that doesn’t happen very often!
Best of luck with it. 🙂