Willing yet clueless

When you think of the Christmas story, who do you think of? Jesus? Mary? Joseph? Shepherds? Angels? Wisemen? All of the above? Others?
The miracle we celebrate at Christmas, that of God taking on skin on bones, changed the whole world. Yet when we look at the lives of everyone in that list, each one of their individual lives was also changed. And Jesus is the only One in that list Who knew how radically that change would affect Him and everyone else. The others just said “yes” to God and let Him take care of the rest of the story, though they had no idea what that would mean for them nor how their lives would change from that point on. How could any of them know how Jesus’ coming to Earth would change their “today,” their “tomorrow,” and their “the next day,” let alone the next weeks, months, and years? The Bible tells us that even the angels long to understand better how Jesus’ birth, death, and resurrection change everything (1 Peter 1:12).
As I am celebrating this Christmas from Wisconsin, I see how in some ways my life may look like the lives of those characters from the story, those real people who lived long ago. I, too, have said yes to God, to let Him use me as He wants. And, like them, I don’t know how that means that my life will change in the days, weeks, months, and years to come. But I know that He has a plan and He’ll work it out in His timing.
For those of you who don’t know, I was planning on returning to My Country in October, but because of security threats (mainly an increase in terrorist activity), I was asked to delay my return until at least January. It was very clear that God opened up doors for me to take some grad classes in Texas at Dallas International University (formerly called GIAL) these last two months. On Tuesday I heard from leadership of Ethnos360 that the situation is such that I still cannot return to My Country, but there is still hope that I will be able to return sometime, though it wouldn’t be before this summer at the earliest.
In the meantime, I don’t know what I’ll be up to. But I’m sure that, as in the lives of the characters in the first Christmas story, God has a plan. And I’m sure that He’ll let me know when I need to know. In the meantime, let’s celebrate the greatest gift, that of God with us, Emmanuel.