The Gift of Messy

The Gift of Messy: When God Works in the Chaos

Most of us spend a lot of time trying to clean up our lives. We want clarity, order, and predictability. We want God to move—but preferably after everything settles down. After the mess is resolved. After we feel ready.

But Christmas tells a very different story.

God doesn’t wait for things to be neat.
He enters the mess.

This message—The Gift of Messy—invites us to reconsider how God works, especially in seasons that feel chaotic, uncomfortable, or uncertain. Through the story of Mary in Luke 1 and a deeply personal journey of calling, failure, and obedience, we’re reminded that messiness is not an obstacle to God—it’s often the setting for His greatest work.

When God Uses the Unlikely

Mary and Joseph came from Nazareth, a town with a reputation so unimpressive that people openly questioned whether anything good could come from it. It wasn’t powerful. It wasn’t influential. It wasn’t impressive.

And yet, this is exactly where God chose to begin the redemption of the world.

The political climate was unstable. Israel was under Roman occupation. King Herod was cruel and unpredictable. Spiritually, socially, and politically—everything was a mess.

Instead of waiting for the world to get its act together, God stepped directly into the chaos.

That alone should reframe how we see our own lives.

If God can bring salvation through a teenage girl in an overlooked town during a broken moment in history, then maybe—just maybe—He can work through our mess too.

God Is Not Limited by the Impossible

When Mary hears the angel’s announcement, her response is honest and human:
How can this be?

By all logical, biological, and theological standards, what God was proposing was impossible.

But God has never been limited by what we consider impossible.

When God is present, the impossible becomes possible.

The angel reminds Mary of Elizabeth—someone who had been labeled “childless,” someone whose story already seemed written and finished. God uses Elizabeth’s miracle as proof that He is still faithful, still powerful, still working.

This is often how God works in our lives too. He reminds us—through others—of His past faithfulness so we can trust Him with what feels impossible in front of us now.

Press Into the Body, Not Away From It

One of the strongest challenges in this message is the call to resist isolation.

When life gets messy, our instinct is often to pull away—from church, from community, from people who remind us of truth. Doubt grows when we disconnect. Faith weakens when the body of Christ becomes optional.

Community is not a bonus feature of faith. It’s essential.

God often uses the people around us to remind us of who He is when we forget. He uses their stories, their faith, their endurance to point us back to Him—especially when we’re struggling to see redemption in our own mess.

Don’t isolate yourself in the middle of the storm. Press into the body.

Obedience Is Risky—and Costly

Mary’s response to God is short but powerful:

“I am the Lord’s servant. May it happen to me as you have said.”

This wasn’t a casual agreement. It was a dangerous one.

Mary risked her reputation, her relationships, and potentially her life. Obedience placed her in real danger. And yet, she surrendered control anyway.

This confronts a hard truth:
We often want the blessings of God without the cost of obedience.

Comfortable Christianity asks little and changes less. But God’s priority is not our comfort—it’s our holiness. He cares more about shaping us into His likeness than preserving our convenience.

Obedience almost always involves risk. But it’s in that risk that God reveals His power.

Let the Trials Develop You

Discomfort is not the enemy of faith. Avoiding discomfort is.

The anointing of the Holy Spirit doesn’t come through ease—it comes through pressure.

In biblical times, oil was produced by crushing olives. No crushing, no oil.

In the same way, trials don’t exist to destroy us. They exist to produce something in us. They press us, refine us, and draw out what God has already placed within us.

When we avoid trials, we miss the anointing.
When we embrace them, God matures our faith.