Interesting ways God Leads...

So I didn't go to church this last weekend and apparently I should have because my sweet friend told me she thought it went perfectly with my Rest blog.  So I gotta get the podcast...

I want to talk about something I started thinking about awhile ago, but the Lord has recently reminded me of.  One of my favorite life verses has always been the one where Mary answers the angel who tells her she's going to give birth to her Savior. That angel tells her that among all women in all time that she is blessed with the privilege of having the Spirit of God over shadow her, and that she would conceive and carry within her own physical body, and then give birth to, nurse and raise the holy Son of God.

She answered that angel so simply, "May it be unto me according to your word." Wow! Mary blows me away. Her incredibly simply stated and humbly accepted faith and role in the history of all humankind.  She was a pretty amazing little chicky, right?

Now here's what I've been thinking about her...After she had given birth, she and Joseph were probably still waiting for the census to be completed (the reason they had to leave Nazareth and go to Bethlehem in the first place). They were living somewhere around Bethlehem; the three wise men had already visited and brought their gifts, when an angel visited Joseph in a dream and told him he had to take Mary and her baby out of the country--to Egypt actually--and to stay there until it was safe to return to their home.

Well, in the morning, Joseph told Mary that they had to go to Egypt right now.

But do you know what the Bible doesn't say? It doesn't tell us how that conversation between Mary and Joseph went. It just says (to this effect);
Joseph, "Hey Mary, I had another 'Angel-dream last night."
Mary, "Hmm, really?"
Joseph, "Yeah. God sent an angel to tell me that we gotta pack up and get out of town...well, we gotta get out of Israel altogether. We're going to Egypt."
So, they packed up and went to Egypt, where they stayed until the evil ruler that wanted to kill Jesus had died.

I have wondered a few things about this piece of our history.

I have wondered why God spoke to Joseph in a dream about the danger. And I have wondered about Mary's untold reaction. I wonder if I would have been in her place, if my conversation with my husband would gone something like this:
Joseph, "Hey Mary, I had another 'Angel-dream last night."
Me, "Hmm, really?"
Joseph, "Yeah. God sent an angel to tell me that we gotta pack up and get out of town...well, we gotta get out of Israel altogether. We're going to Egypt."
Me, "Really? Well, God didn't tell me anything like that last night. Are you sure? How do you know? How much sense does it make right now for us to pack up and head out for Egypt? I mean, Egypt? I'm sorry, that just sounds crazy. I don't get it.  I think we need to be really sure before we just leave. After all, my parents haven't even seen the baby yet." (and here's what I might have been thinking and not saying, "Besides, I'm the Savior's mother, right? Don't you think that if God wanted us to do something this big, like leave our home country, He would at least tell the mother of His Son?")

So why didn't He speak directly to Mary?

Here's what I think. First, God created the way a man and woman are to live together in marriage. He set us up as husband and wife. Second, He understood the culture in which Joseph and Mary lived (He created that too). third, God respects His own design and does not contradict Himself. Therefore, when it was time to lead the couple He had chosen to parent his in-human-form Son, He went to the head of the house--Joseph. And when Mary heard Joseph say he had been warned by God in a dream, she complied. 

See, both Joseph and Mary also understood their culture and the roles of husband and wife. It was completely acceptable (normal, even) to Mary that God would lead her family through her husband.

Imagine if she had protested. Imagine if Joseph would have caved to her challenge.  Jesus would have been one of the hundreds of babies slain in the massacre Herod's soldiers carried out on all male children ages two years and younger in that land soon after they left. Pretty sobering thought.

The reason I have been thinking about all of this again is because I have been personally experiencing this crazy phenomenon for the last several months...God is leading me through my husband...I'm not lying! I have never lived in life like I have been living this last little while.

First my husband tells me he has heard a word from the Lord...we are to prepare; we are in a season of preparation...we are to begin to prepare to be mobile...God is moving, stirring, we need to be ready to move with Him...to which I replied, "Hmmm, really?"

Then our pastor brings a new year's message that includes these words, "Prepare for an encounter with God. Expect an Encounter..." and pretty much confirms the word the Lord had given to my husband a couple of weeks earlier. 

I guess my point here is that I am excited to see what the Lord has in store for us; I am thrilled that God is leading us through my husband; I am ecstatic that my husband and I are walking in a kind of unity we have never experienced before. 

I trust the Lord and trust my husband to hear from Him.