When you think of the Christmas season, what words come to mind?  “Joy”?  “Peace”?  “Good will”?  How about “fear”?  As you read the story of Christ’s birth in Scripture, you can see it. You actually see fear.  That’s why you also see the words “Fear not” throughout the story.  Think about it.  For example, when the angel, Gabriel, appeared to Mary, she was, as the Bible says, “troubled.”  What the angel shared with Mary was impossible.  In fact, she said so.  “How shall this be?” she said, but Gabriel encouraged her to “Fear not.”  As she tried to wrap her mind around what was being said, there’s no telling what she was thinking.  The thoughts perhaps came in rapid-fire order.   “What will I say to my family?”  “What will others say about me?”  “How am I going to tell Joseph?”  “Can I do this?”  Then Gabriel said something that torpedoed her fear.  Luke 1:37 gives us the angel’s words: “For with God nothing shall be impossible.”  Mary then responded with, “Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to Thy word.”  Words of faith in the God of the impossible and submission to His will.  That faith in God’s power took away her fear, in spite of the seeming impossibility of what had been said.  Maybe today, “fear” is the best word to describe what you’re facing this Christmas season.  If so, remember that Mary’s God is your God.  Trust His power.  Think about it this way – you may not know what God will do, but you do know what God can do.