Mary Letter Day 9

Surely God is my salvation;
   I will trust, and will not be afraid,
for the Lord God is my strength and my might;
   he has become my salvation.

With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. And you will say on that day:
Give thanks to the Lord,
   call on his name;
make known his deeds among the nations;
   proclaim that his name is exalted.

Sing praises to the Lord, for he has done gloriously;
   let this be known in all the earth.
Shout aloud and sing for joy, O royal Zion,
   for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel. Isaiah 12:2-6

Dear Auntie,

It is good to be back home since things have settled down somewhat. Momma and Papa have accepted the circumstances that I am in. It is mostly because of Joseph. At first, he wanted to send me away. It hurt terribly. But then he had a most peculiar dream. He said it was so real, a visit from an angel who told him not to be afraid. Just like my dream! After that night, he came running here and told my folks that he was going to marry me and make everything right. He also apologized to me! Can you believe it? I told you he never lets his feeling show and has to be right all the time. Wow, it was quite a moment then and we talk together all the time now. I think since we have both have had powerful dreams, we can cling together and expect God to be with us.

The hard part is that we are going to be married secretly, here at home. Papa has gone out to find his old friend Saul who is a rabbi. We cannot have our town rabbi, as he has made it very clear that I am exiled from the community. I heard him arguing with Papa the other day. It broke my heart. I promised God I would bear this responsibility, but I didn't realize what it would do to my family! My parents are the most faithful people in the world! They don't deserve to be hurt like this.

I best get back to the business of preparing for our hasty wedding. I had big dreams of a big community celebration, feasting and dancing through the night. This will be nothing at all, except good food with my closest family. I guess that is the best kind of celebration, really.

Much love,

Mary