I can remember one year, when my children were little, they memorized Luke 2, King James Version of course, because the language just seems fitting with the season.
They recited it before we opened presents.
Such a powerful story we seem to think little about as it is so familiar.
In honor of our Savior’s birth, I assembled some previously written devotions especially for this precious season.
Feel free to read them all in one sitting or spread them out until Christmas Day.
And he rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed to Egypt. Matthew 2:14
God interrupted their plans.
Big time, yes?
Joseph and Mary were ordinary people living a simple life doing normal things.
They had normal plans.
Get married.
Start a family.
Carve out the best possible existence with the resources they had.
They were not unlike all of us.
But God stepped into their lives, interrupting the journey they thought they would take.
God didn’t completely alter their plans, just changed it up, adding a baby, shepherds, Wiseman, and fleeing into Egypt in the middle of the night to avoid certain death.
But eventually, they settled into that semi-normal life they originally sought.
Normal if you can call it that while parenting the son of God.
What has God interrupted in your life?
This year has been full of interruptions.
I know, the interruptions aren’t from God, or are they?
Has God awakened your desire to know Him more?
To trust Him more?
Has God opened your eyes to see how much the world needs His good news?
Has your trust in God deepened as normal life has somewhat changed?
While God has not announced life altering declarations to you through an angel, He has allowed our lives to change.
Maybe only for a season, but they have been changed.
And because God holds all things, the past, present, and the future, in his Hands, we can trust Him through all of it.
I believe God has spoken to you through this time.
But you must listen.
Listen to His whispers of encouragement when you are filled with loneliness.
Listen to His domination over fear when you are filled with anxiety.
Listen to His great love for you when you feel abandoned.
Dig into the Bible, worship Him with praise, and purpose your mind to focus on Him and what you know He wants you to do.
Mary and Joseph did that.
They could have run away screaming from what God asked them to do when He stepped into their lives, interrupting their best laid plans.
But they didn’t.
They chose to trust in Almighty God and then obey.
Do the same.
Trust Him for your everything and then obey Him, knowing you are fully loved and fully known by God.
“for I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11
Joseph and Mary had big plans.
They were simple folk with regular plans.
Get married and build a life, working hard to produce an honorable Jewish family.
Probably were going to stay in town, as folks didn’t regularly move away from their communities.
I can imagine Mary collecting recipes from her mother, gathering the skills needed to run her own household.
Joseph, too, honing his carpentry skills, collecting tools, starting on their forever house.
They had plans.
Plans that were normal, thoughtful, accepted, and logical.
Accepted.
Then God stepped in.
He changed their plans.
Radically.
Disrupted their entire future.
Joseph and Mary went from knowing how their future would proceed to trusting God with everything they had.
Went from predictable reliable plans to an unknown, scary future.
Scary, yes, because now they had no one but themselves.
And God.
Their friends probably thought they were crazy.
And their family hopefully believed them, but the Bible doesn’t record their reactions, so who really knows?
All we know is both Mary and Joseph said yes to God.
They trusted His words and each other.
They chose to walk a difficult journey because they KNEW God had ordained it.
They were confident God would be with them always.
That they were IN His plans.
And what about you?
What has God interrupted in your life?
What plans of yours has He changed?
It’s irritating, I know, when things change.
Guessing Mary and Joseph weren’t always in great moods about the whole thing.
But they kept going.
They remembered they were in God’s plan.
That God Himself was in control.
And you, too.
When God interrupts your plans, you fall back into His.
His great plans for your life.
Jeremiah 29:11 reminds us, “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
Like Joseph and Mary, allow God to interrupt.
Accept His perfect plan for your life.
And take comfort knowing He wants the very best for you, His child.
Amy Linnea 
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