‘…when His mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph…’ is a phrase from the Christmas Lessons that still rumbles around with me. So how about this…?

Technically speaking, Mary wasn’t the mother of Jesus yet, but so much more is happening here (as is often the case in scripture.) Mary’s future was so certain she could rightly be introduced this way even before her future had been introduced to her!! Why? Because God completes what He initiates every time.
You never know what God has planned for you. I don’t know what God has planned for me. Sometimes we get inklings, glimpses—other times, none whatsoever. Walking by faith and not by sight isn’t a command in scripture— it’s doctrine. It’s a statement about the way things are… of course we should respond accordingly. While there are some things you can’t plan for, you can prepare.
Could Mary have planned to be the Mother of the Messiah? Not in a million years. Was she prepared? Apparently, she was. From everything we know, Mary had lived a life steeped in the scriptures and walked as well as she could with the Father before and after she technically became the Mother of the Messiah.
It is possible one day that you…….? (fill in the gap).  It hasn’t technically happened, but what does the future have to do with time? Maybe God’s plans for you are so unlikely that they would seem impossible if you read them here… But remember, His mother. No one was expecting that, even if they were hoping for it. Nothing is impossible with God.

How can you possibly do all of this? How can anyone prepare for that which they cannot plan? Make decisions that honour God in the present. Put Him at the centre of your life. Let him be core and first…. And every decision you make will both influence and prepare you for the future to which you are called.

Lord you know my future… I don’t. Help me to trust you as much with today as I do with my eternity, so that I am well prepared for what is to come. You prepared Mary, thank-you that you are preparing me.