Life is messy. Growing up in a family ravaged by divorce, Christmastime was an especially challenging season for me. My life didn’t resemble any Norman Rockwell Christmas scene.

I’m not sure why, but I thought becoming a Christian would mean less messy relationships and less complicated circumstances in my life. That hasn’t been the case for me. As soon as I surrendered my life to Christ and received the love, forgiveness, peace, and joy I’d longed for, I also encountered opposition and challenges which have tested my faith.

God’s ways may surprise us, but trusting Him means embracing the path he chooses for us and walking forward in faith. Consider the surprising events of Jesus’ birth with me.

A virgin birth! Pregnancy out of wedlock.

This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit…All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”). Matthew 1: 18, 22 (NIV)

Government census requiring travel. Homelessness and childbirth.

In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) And everyone went to their own town to register. So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them. Luke 2: 1-7 (NIV)

Untimely escape and immigration.

When they (wise men) had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.” So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called my son.”

When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi.  Matthew 2: 13-16 (NIV)

God’s people have always been called to walk by faith even when the path God leads us on surprises us with opposition. (Read about Abraham, Noah, Moses, Esther, and David for just a few examples.) Jesus lived in perfect obedience to God and he faced opposition of every kind. We should expect no less. God’s ways may surprise us, but they are perfect.

Sacrificial death of the King and his resurrection!

“ …listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know. This man was handed over to you by God’s deliberate plan and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross. But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him…God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of it. Exalted to the right hand of God, he has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear…“Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.” Acts 2: 22-24, 32-33, 38-39 (NIV)

Embrace the surprising salvation offered by the God of the Universe this Christmas.