God’s Got This: The Annunciation Is a Reminder of Who's in Control

Meg Herriot meditates on how anxiety and the desire to control can be parenting pitfalls, butwe have a model in our Holy Mother. 

Praying the Mysteries of the Rosary: a Meandering Path

I’ve written before about the gift of praying the Rosary, and how it has been a meandering path of Our Lady leading my family closer to her and our Lord. There have been some Mysteries of the Rosary that have been easier to enter into, to meditate on and understand.

I would say the Mystery of the Annunciation has always been more of a mystery to me. I was fortunate enough to take a trip to the place in the Holy Land where this mystery has been understood to have occurred. But obviously, I’ve never had anything similar to that situation happen, nor would I ever be worthy of it. So it seems harder to enter into, that is until the other day.

Pondering with the Heart

As I was thinking about parenting, life and the general chaos and mayhem around, I saw how we all have more in common with Our Lady in this meditation than maybe we think.

Think of Mary's ability to surrender, have humility, and deal with anxiety. We also share with her knowledge of a road that isn’t easy without all the details as to how it’s all going to play out. That has a lot in common with the human condition.

Entering mid-life and with over a decade of parenting experiences, I’ve journeyed to some realizations. The pre-mom me would have totally judged me as a mom (she had no clue!). Lots of people have no clue, but still judge. We parent the child God gave us, not the one we had imagined having.

Life often isn’t the way we imagined. The paths of the Spirit take us along the meandering path along the river of the Rosary. Job loss, health issues ... our path is often not what we thought it would be. We aren’t in a position where we know how the path is going to turn up and how things are going to go.

God’s Got This

God asks for our “Yes.” He doesn’t ask us to completely, comprehensively understand and check off the boxes. He doesn’t ask us to control the journey. Mary’s “Yes” is a reminder to us, that 2000 years ago still applies today. Our Yes is obviously not even in the same jurisdiction as Mary’s; but our “Yes” is “God’s got this.” This isn’t perfect, it isn’t easy.

I’ve spent many times on my knees or prostrate on the ground. The Author of this story is so much greater than my character. He will create a masterful ending, even though the peaks and the valleys don’t always make sense in the moment, God’s got this. We’ve got to obey. We have to surrender. We have to show up. But God’s got this. We are never alone in any struggle without Him being right there with us.

Now as we ponder the Annunciation and the Holy Rosary, let us always remember: God’s got this. We are His. We are right where we need to be. May Mary’s Mantle cover the whole World with the peace of her Son.

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Copyright 2026 Meg Herriot
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