If Mary hadn’t believed, the first Christmas as we know it wouldn’t have taken place. The angel Gabriel appeared to the virgin Mary and told her that she would give birth to a son, and he would be called the Son of the Most High. She believed Gabriel. A short time later, carrying Jesus inside her womb, Mary visited her relative Elizabeth, who was pregnant with John the Baptist. Elizabeth began prophesying and said, “Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her!” (Luke 1:45) Believing is as essential to Christians today as it was on the day Mary found out she was chosen and favored of God to be the mother of God’s Son.