The Sword that Pierced My Soul

'Don't be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you'll conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call his name Jesus. He will be great, and will be the son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. And he'll reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.' Luke 1:3033 (NKJV) On that fateful day long ago, the angel Gabriel spoke to Mary and told her she would bear the Son of God. Though scared and confused because she had not been with a man and was betrothed to Joseph the carpenter, she accepted God's will for her life. For thirty years she watched Jesus grow from a tiny babe into a man, and each day she wondered how he would claim the throne of King David that God had promised him. When the day came, three years into his ministry, she found it to be far beyond her imagination. The meaning behind Simeon's words, 'A sword will pierce through your own soul,' became clear. Christ was not just her son but her Lord and Savior; he was God in the flesh, who would die for the sins of the world. In The Sword That Pierced My Soul, a fictionalized account of the life of Mary, author B. J. Hodgson details what it would have been like to be the mother of Jesus Christ, the promised Messiah, showing that though Mary was the Lord's mother, she was not unlike mothers the world overwith an undying love for her child. B. J. Hodgson lives in Iowa. She was inspired to write The Sword That Pierced My Soul, her first novel, through a Bible study group in her church.