Summary

Joseph’s dream warning him to flee to Egypt with Mary and baby Jesus serves as a powerful reminder of the importance of heeding divine promptings to protect ourselves and our loved ones. Join Tamara K. Anderson, Amy Johnson, and Sandy Falter as they delve into Matthew 2:13-23, exploring the profound implications of Joseph’s immediate response to the angel’s message. The discussion highlights the ways God prepares us for challenges, often guiding us through unexpected twists and turns. Through personal stories and reflections, the hosts emphasize that while faith may lead us to difficult decisions, it also assures us of divine support in our journeys. Tune in for insights on the balance of fear and faith, and how remembering God’s past guidance can empower us in our present trials.

Show Notes

Tamara K Anderson, Amy Johnson, and Sandy Falter delve into the profound narrative of Joseph's dream in Matthew 2:13-23, exploring the significance of divine guidance in moments of peril. The episode opens with a relatable invitation to listeners, prompting reflection on their own experiences of feeling nudged or warned to take action, especially in times of danger. The trio emphasizes the importance of recognizing these divine promptings, drawing parallels between Joseph's urgent flight to Egypt with Mary and baby Jesus and the real-life situations many face today where faith and quick decision-making are crucial. They discuss how Joseph’s immediate response to the angel’s warning showcases a model of obedience and trust in divine revelation, which is not only exemplary but also a source of empowerment for listeners navigating their own life challenges.

As the conversation progresses, the hosts thoughtfully examine the emotional weight of Mary and Joseph's journey. They reflect on the grief and fear that must have accompanied their flight, particularly in light of Herod's horrific decree to slay innocent children. The discussion shifts to the broader theme of how God prepares His followers for their journeys, often providing resources and support just when they need it most, as evidenced by the gifts from the wise men. The hosts encourage listeners to remember God's past faithfulness, drawing strength from scriptural accounts and personal testimonies of God's provision in times of trial. This episode is a rich exploration of faith, obedience, and the assurance of divine companionship through the storms of life.

Further into their dialogue, the hosts tackle the complex emotions surrounding the reality that not everyone receives the same divine promptings or outcomes in difficult situations. They highlight the importance of understanding that God’s plans are unique for each individual and that trusting in His wisdom can bring peace even amidst tragedy. The narrative culminates in a powerful reminder that true faith encompasses both joy and sorrow—illustrating that God meets us in our darkest hours, offering comfort and guidance. With warmth and humor, Tamara, Amy, and Sandy provide listeners with a thoughtful reflection on Joseph's story, encouraging them to embrace their own journeys with faith, resilience, and a sense of community, reminding them that they are never alone in their struggles.

Takeaways

• Listening to promptings, like Joseph did, can lead to life-saving decisions for ourselves and our families.
• Mary and Joseph's journey exemplifies the importance of faith and trust in God during uncertain times.
• Both faith and fear can coexist, and it's okay to feel both while navigating life's challenges.
• Remembering past experiences can help us recognize God’s hand in our current situations.
• The story illustrates that God provides resources right when we need them most.
• Each twist in Joseph and Mary's journey teaches us to follow divine guidance without question.
• You can find the "After the Show Miracles" segment on our website under Free Content in the Store.

Guests & Hosts

Tamara K. Anderson @tamarakanderson

Tamara, founder of Women Warriors of Light, is a dynamic speaker, award winning author, and a podcaster. She is driven by her Christian faith to inspire faith in Jesus Christ. Alongside her husband, Justin, she navigates the joys and challenges of parenting four children with autism, ADHD, and mental health hurdles. You can find out more about Tamara on her website: https://www.tamarakanderson.com/

Amy Johnson @amyajohnson5

Amy is a member of our Women Warriors of Light Advisory Board. She is a leader of women, a homemaker, and a licensed cosmetologist. Amy enjoys nurturing women through betrayal trauma to becoming a beacon of support and inspiration.

Sandy Falter @sandtoglasscoaching

Sandy Falter is a mother of six children and a proud grandma of 9. After experiencing tremendous loss and healing herself, Sandy found her passion and purpose in helping others who have experienced loss from divorce, death, or unrealized expectations. She believes that God turns all tragedy for our good and she has seen the beauty rise from the ashes in her own life. Sandy Falter is certified grief coach, trainer and speaker. You can find her on her website at heal.sandtoglasscoaching.com

Transcript

If you’d like to read the transcript of today’s episode, you can find it on our Women Warriors of Light website blog. https://www.womenwarriorsoflight.com/blog/from-manger-to-egypt-a-tale-of-faith-fear-and-following-promptings

Have you ever had the prompting to do something but you weren't quite sure why? And it's like a strong prompting to stop you from doing something, maybe, or to prompt you into moving because of danger?

If so, you're not the only one.

Today we're going to talk about an amazing warning that Joseph received that saved his family from danger and things that we can apply from this to our day. So stay tuned.

Welcome to Bible Women in Bathrobes, the podcast where faith meets comfort.

Join us Tuesday morning as the gals from Women warriors of Light and their guests don bathrobes and dive into the inspiring stories of women in the Bible and the teachings of Jesus Christ. From Esther's bravery to the Sermon on the Mount, we explore it all with warmth, laughter, sisterhood and maybe even a few sleepy eyed moments.

Tune in live or at your leisure as we learn lessons from scripture which empower women today.

Hello and welcome to another episode of Bible Women in Bathrobes. I'm your host, Tamara K Anderson. And joining me today are two amazing women as we're diving into this Voices of the Nativity story.

And today we have Amy Johnson. Amy, welcome back.

Thank you. It's an amazing day.

It is, it is. And Amy's a member of our advisory board and we're just so happy to have her.

She, she's a frequent on this podcast and I just appreciate her so much for her wisdom and insights into the scriptures. And another person that joined us last week on our on our story with the wise men is my good friend, Sandy Falter. Sandy, thanks for being here again.

Oh, so grateful for this chance to be here and discuss God's word with you.

Oh, so, so good. And I love what I love about Sandy is her personal journey from just hard circumstances to having those ashes in her life become beautiful.

And she is a grief coach, trainer and speaker. And you can find out more about her at her website, heal.sand to glass coaching.com or on social media at sand to Glass Coaching.

So if you struggle with grief and getting through it, she's a good person to talk to. All right, on to our story.

So last week we talked a little bit about the wise men and their amazing voices and today we kind of finish the end of that story. The the wise men open the door to King Herod becoming aware of of Jesus and his birth.

And King Herod spent some time with the wise men finding out all he could about this new king that was supposed to. He's like, no one's going to take my place. But he was given that choice, right?

That choice to either tip towards the Savior and faith or to tip away from him. And he definitely chose the other way. So that's where we pick up this story.

We're in Matthew chapter two, and we're going to cover verses 13 through 23 and, and some of the miracles that happened in here. Now I'm just going to back up and just kind of give you a few little thoughts as we dive into this.

We live in a world right now where things are constantly under commotion and the adversary is doing his darndest to thwart all of us in our journeys.

And I think that hopefully if we kind of look at this story through those eyes, that we'll be able to find some parallels that of things we can do in our own lives to protect us from the adversary and all of that. All right, so let's go to verse 13 here and we'll kick it off.

And it says, and when they were departed, this is talking about the wise men visiting them.

Behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream saying, arise and take the young child and his mother and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word. Herod will seek the young child to destroy him.

And, and so, and then it says in verse 14, when he arose, he took the young child and his mother by night and departed into Egypt. So I'm just going to pause right there and we'll just dive straight into this. Sandy, let's start with you thoughts on these two verses.

Yes. I can't imagine as a parent being welcome to this dream. Right.

But I think that God is so good and he kind of prepares us, I'm sure the visit from the wise men. And then there I. I'm sure they pulled Joseph aside, I would imagine, and said, look, Herod, we're going another way.

I had.

We.

We had a vision. We're going another way. But Herod's got some things planned, like, you need to be careful of him.

Right.

And so I'm sure it was on his mind. And, and I feel like God is so good that sometimes we just get a message out of the blue.

But a lot of times he's preparing our thoughts and our minds and so he gets this vision. I love that it says in the night, Joseph didn't wait. Well, we'll think about it. Oh, let me see if this is really true. I'll gather everything.

No, no, no. He got up and he took them and he left. And I love that. And how often do I Follow those promptings that I get right now.

Or how often be like, yeah, I'll get to that. I. I love his example. And yes, you know, the Savior's life was at stake here, and, And I. I get that.

But even in the simple things, how often do I listen and follow those promptings?

Right now

I love that. Amy, thoughts on those verses.

I love how, Sandy, I love how you said that he got up and he followed it. And I. I. In my mind's eye, I see him knowing the story of Moses. I see him see. I see him knowing that story. I don't. I don't.

I have to assume that they knew that, right? That Moses was under the same duress as a child. And for me, I. I think there's power in. When I see this. I.

I see there is power in knowing what's come before, knowing what the Lord has done for his people, and then being close enough to the Lord that when he prompts, you can quickly draw those parallels and say, oh, yeah, remember Moses or whoever. Whoever the parallel is. And so for me, when I read this, every time I read this, I always think about Moses being destroyed and. Or being at risk.

I mean, and I. I feel like he had to know that he had to know Moses's story. He had to know God, and he had to connect things fast and go and just trust. And I.

I think we have a. Not only an obligation, but a privilege to be able to do that in our own lives. I really do. I think we have that privilege, too.

Do we know what God has done before, not only in our lives, but in the lives of others? And then can we quickly make those connections and trust enough that trust yourself, trust God, and get out and go?

Well, and I've never thought about it quite in this way before, but I almost think Joseph, the last time we have record of him having that dream was when Mary was found pregnant. And he's like, what am I going to do here, Lord? You know?

And the angel comes to him in the dream and tells him, you know, don't worry, this baby is of the Holy Ghost and you need to get married. And he acted immediately.

So we know that Joseph is dependable, but I think that he could also probably reflect back on that dream and say, God told me then in a dream, and he told me now in a dream. And so I can rely on this being the next right thing that I'm supposed to do and just trusting that inspiration and that guidance.

And sometimes God asks us to do hard things. And I mean, this certainly was not easy. This is taking them completely out of their culture and taking them to a totally different land.

Before, when they went to Bethlehem, you know, when Jesus was born, they at least had family in the area.

Yeah, but this is, this is a kind of an additional step of faith that you're going to go somewhere, you are not going to know anybody, you know, and you're going to have to take and go there. And.

And Sandy brought up on our last episode that how, what a miracle it was that one of the gifts that the wise men gave them was gold, because they were going to need it as they journeyed to Egypt. So God provided the resources that they needed so that they could take their next right step here. It's, it's pretty crazy. Sandy.

I believe he always does that.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I think all that, what you're saying just reminds me of how many times in the Scriptures it says remember, right. Or I remembered, you know, how good he was to my fathers. I remembered. And so it's that remembering when, when we're in His Word and we're.

And we're seeking him and all these things as we're remembering it makes it easier for us to follow because it's like, oh, yeah, this happened to Moses. This is a real threat. And God provided a way. And I'm going to listen, I'm going to follow.

I remembered the angel came to me before and he told me what to do, and I followed and everything's okay. Right. And so as we remember, it's. That's an important thing to do, as the scriptures tell us, because it keeps us in. In. It keeps it all in our heart.

And I think it's easier to follow when it's. It's already in our heart. We know we can trust because, because we remember we've seen a pattern because God's the same. He doesn't change.

And we can see that pattern.

Yeah, absolutely. Oh, I love this. Okay, let's, let's, let's keep going. Okay, so we are in verse 15. And I love that their flight to Egypt was prophesied of too.

So here we're going to read a little bit about that. And it says, and was there until the death of Herod.

So they stayed in Egypt that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet saying, out of Egypt have I called my son.

And so how neat that even this incident with Herod, that you're like, what is this, this little blip in the life of an Israelite that probably was not very common that they he took his family and fled to Egypt. And then we come to the sad part of Herod and his actions. It says when Herod.

Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of wise men, was exceedingly wroth, and sent forth and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently inquired of the wise men, that it might be fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy the prophet, saying in Rama there was a voice heard lamentation and weeping and great mourning. Rachel weeping for her children and would not be comforted because they were not. Okay, I'm just going to pause right there. We have two scriptures.

I think it's so interesting that Luke blends these scriptures in. This was prophesied of Christ and here's where it was fulfilled. So it's really cool. Any thoughts on this? Amy, we'll start with you this time.

It never occurred to me until this morning that they very likely had family members that were killed while they were escaping. But that's possible. I mean, she was of childbearing age, and when I was of childbearing age, so were all my sisters. Right?

And, and so it never really occurred to me until this morning that they fled because they were warned. And, and I've seen that in my own life where I.

One person has been saved from tragedy because of a prompting or seeming tragedy because of a prompting, and then another person tumbles headlong into it because they just didn't get the same prompting, not because they didn't do. Didn't do something right, but because that wasn't God's plan for them. And I think that can be really heartbreaking and confusing.

And, and as a woman, I don't know, maybe not maybe just as Amy, I look at it and I think sometimes if that happens, and I'm the one who tumbles headlong into tragedy because I didn't get the prompting, then what, then am I thinking? What am I doing wrong? Why isn't, why isn't it working out for me the way it worked out for them?

Like, because we start to second guess ourselves and we start to question. And I, I've been pondering faith a lot lately. I've been pondering what it looks like to exercise faith.

And I think because, because I, I, I tend to work out a little bit and so exercise. When I hear that word, it just jumps off the page at me because I know what that means.

I know what it means to push your body to run and to push your body to lift weights and to even push your mind and spirit to do yoga. I know what that looks like. Right.

And so when I hear exercise Faith, I've been thinking a lot about that, and I think it takes a lot of exercising of faith to leave, but I think it takes a lot of exercising of faith to deal with calamity if you don't get prompted to leave, if your story is not the same as somebody's who looks more glamorous or more secure or more happy or better or whatever. And.

And I think that for me, there's a lesson in that this morning that just because I am a mother of a child who was slain, enthroned into the coast and wherever, whatever he did with the bodies, think I'm mixing Moses, which is great. What if I'm a mother of that? But then what if I'm the mother who gets told to get up and leave and leave everything?

And I don't understand all the reasons why, except that I just trust God enough to do what he's told me to do. So I think it's. It's a balancing act.

We have to exercise our faith that God knows how he's going to make our story amazing, even if it doesn't look like the way he's making our sister or our neighbor or a friend's life amazing.

Yeah. I'm sure you have some insight into this, Sandy.

Yeah. My first thought was Mary didn't receive the vision, and yet she got up and went in the middle of the night. Right. She.

They departed in the middle of the night. And so what faith she had to follow and to go. And.

And do I have that same faith, whether the guidance comes, you know, from an angel or if I'm reading and I receive a prompting or I hear it from someone else, and I know that that's true. Am I following? Am I. Am I going in the night? Like I've just got this. And what faith she must have had and. And grief.

She was leaving everything that she knew. And she hasn't had an easy go, like, you know, I mean, she gave birth in a manger and her mom wasn't there.

I think about that thinking, oh, at least, you know, we have some comforts. And I might have somebody I know with me and, and all of that. And her journey has been hard, but she's always followed.

She's always had that faith to just follow and to go. And I can imagine the sorrow in her heart knowing that others will lose their children and how hard that is.

And also going to a place where she doesn't have friends, she doesn't have family, and she's starting all over. So fear and faith existing in the same space again. Right. And. And I love that, that, that, that does happen. And, and I love that.

I, I agree wholeheartedly with what you said. Yes.

Yeah. I don't think they knew that Herod was going to come and kill everybody. All those kids. I, I don't think that was given them.

I, they, they obviously found out after the fact, but they knew that Herod was seeking their son.

Um, and so this has been, as I have pondered and as I've been preparing for this podcast, this has been one of those things that's kind of weighed on my heart a little bit. Like, like Amy was saying, how is it that sometimes the answer is you're saved for some people and the answer is not for others.

And it's, it's really weighed on my heart. And the only thing that I can even kind of come up with in my brain is that God is with both in their journey.

And sometimes we're the ones that get the saved call, and sometimes we're the ones that someone we love passes away, no matter how faithful and how much we pray and all of that.

And I guess it is that true faith in God, no matter which side of the equation happens in our lives today or tomorrow or the next day, true faith is saying, okay, I trust you in this. Even though it is so far from what I wanted, from what I would have chosen for me or my loved ones or my family.

And so since I have to go through this, you're going to have to help me through it.

Whether it's a sudden move leaving everyone you know, or the loss of someone you love very, very dearly and the ensuing grief and perhaps anger pounding on the doors of heaven, that God can be with us and navigate either scenario. And, ah, it's. It's a hard topic. And so I knew we were going to have to broach it. And, and my heart is just tender right now talking about it.

But I guess my thoughts from God this today are he will be with us. He will be with us in either scenario. And that no scenario is too hard for him to help us navigate if we do it with Him.

And again, there's that choice, right? And there may be days when we feel full of faith, and there may be days where we're full of anger.

And that's also part of the Journey and trust that God will get you through to the other side.

Could I answer that?

Yes.

I know in some of my darkest times, and it felt like it. It was long, felt like the night was never going to end, and. And I had to choose. I had to choose him.

And, and I love the examples in the Scriptures where Christ meets us, where we are. He's not afraid of being in a place of discomfort. You know, he'll meet you and he'll weep with you.

I think about the woman caught in adultery and how he was willing to just go. And I mean, everybody's like, come on, fix this, right?

We don't like to be in a place of discomfort, but Christ has shown us that he'll come and he'll sit with us and he'll be in a place of discomfort. He'll pause for us and, and I.

That helped me in my dark times, knowing that even if this lasts a little longer, he can meet me right here and he'll stay with me as long as it takes for the sun to come up again. And just knowing, just that, knowing I could still be sad and have peace.

We talked about this last time, but that was so helpful for me to know that both could exist, that I could feel his love and his peace and be devastated and be crushed and be grieving, and all those emotions can exist at the same space, and we can hold that space for Christ to be with us in our discomfort.

Sandy, I love that.

And I really think it's actually important that we understand that not only it can exist, it needs to exist, that, that those emotions are what make us who we are. They're. They're what allow us to feel the magnitude of emotions.

When we and I, I had to learn this, but when I was blocking the discomfort emotions, then it was also blocking the amazing, wonderful, joyful emotions. And so by allowing my. To meet myself, to be vulnerable and feeling more this direction, I was then able to feel more that direction.

The other thing I really thought, love that you said, was that it wasn't her revelation, it wasn't her inspiration, because I've, I've had that really recently. I'm. I'm. I feel like, pretty confident in my ability to receive inspiration, and I'm super confident in my ability to act. But when you.

The inspiration comes from my husband, who hasn't always been trustworthy to just act on his and be okay to move forward and wait till my own inspiration comes, that's a lot scarier, but also part of becoming one as a couple. So I love those two things.

So many good things we're talking about here. I love this. Let's finish the story and. And wrap it up. It says in verse. Let's see, verse 19, I think, is where we are.

But when Herod was dead, behold, an angel. The Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt. Here he goes.

Another dream saying, arise and take the young child and his mother and go into the land of Israel, for they are dead, which sought the young child's life. And he arose and took the young child and his mother and came into the land of Israel. And when he heard that, archaeologists.

I don't know if I'm saying this right. Did reign in Judea, in the room of his father Herod.

He was afraid to go thither, notwithstanding being warned of God in a dream, he turned aside into the parts of Galilee, and he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken by the prophets. He shall be called a Nazareth Arene. And so I love. I love the twists and turns this story takes. All from one man trying to keep his family safe.

And then even though the dream said it was safe to go back, he's like, oh, my gosh, Herod's son is still there. I don't want to go there, so I'm going to go to Galilee. And that was in fulfillment of prophecy.

I'm just like, oh, my gosh, there's so many good things in here. So, so good. All right, Amy, thoughts on these verses and. And final takeaway. And then we'll go to Sandy.

Do you just love that there's a prophecy? Because God knows what I'm going to do before I even do it right. Seriously, do you just love that? I just love that.

That God looks at it and he goes, I know exactly what you're going to do, sweetie. So to. In order to make all things for your good, I got your back. Because I also know that you're a covenant keeper. I also know you're one of mine.

And so even though I know what you're going to do before you even do it, and it's not what I told you to do. Exactly. Good job. I'm gonna. I got your back. I love that. I love that.

Yeah. God is so good to us. I'm so glad he loves us even with all of our imperfections. It's so reassuring, right, Sandy?

I love their journey story from the beginning because it's such a good example of a couple of things. One, that even the good are going to have hard, hard times come, right?

We're, we don't escape that because we keep covenants or we are followers of Christ. That doesn't mean that we're, we're not gonna have challenges. And we saw that definitely here. But I also love that every step of the journey.

Okay, now we're taking a left. Okay, now we're taking a right.

And they were willing to just follow wherever with so much faith and trust in the Lord or in God that, that he will direct their path. He knows what's best and they're not second guessing that. And that's such a good example for me.

So many times am I getting this, oh, it's time to pivot. And I'm like, oh no, I, not, not yet. Like, I'm just getting going here.

And, and he's like, no, actually, you know, I remember that very clearly when, when I was, you know, told I, you need to become a grief coach. And I'm like, yeah, no, that wasn't, I was going to go back to school. Like, no, you're going to become a grief coach.

And, and he's guided that path and directed in so many times in my life. I recognize his. It's always easier to look back and see his hand, right. And to see how he's guided.

And I love seeing how it wasn't a straight course, it wasn't an easy path, but they followed every step of the way and they, they listened for guidance and they trusted.

So, so good. Oh, I, I love, I love this story. I love their story of faith. I know my life has taken many twists and turns and it's involved several moves.

So just saying the word move like, kind of gives me hypes. I'm just like, oh no, not that, not that. It's so hard. So I admire their strength to lean into the hard and do it anyway.

Because life, they're an example of persevering through hard things. And so I'm thankful for that. I love kind of the theme that we've talked about.

We've had several themes, but the one that is resonating with me right now is, is the theme that you brought up, Sandy, of remembering and remembering both our personal stories. Well, God has been with me through this and then he will be with me through this next hard thing, whatever it is that's kind of laying before us.

And we're kind of just looking at it with fearful eyes, but also looking to the scriptures and seeing those stories. Well, he helped Mary and Joseph. He will help me. And so that's just a good reminder.

We can find things to remember to remind us of faith and things will work out eventually in the scriptures. So powerful things.

Well, we're going to leave you now and invite you to remember God today, invite you to take and walk with him on your journey through your hard things because he will support you and be with you through it all.

Before you go, I wanted to give you guys a quick update that we now have on our Women warriors of Light website. Under the free content, some show excerpts from the last couple of episodes. We stay on for the next two to five minutes and we just record the miracles that we've seen in each podcast.

So if you want to check that out, go to our website womenwarriorsoflight.com go to the store and get free content, free courses. And in there you will find all these little after the show miracles that we talk about after we finish recording each episode.

Because each episode really is a miracle from God.

Thanks for tuning in to Bible Women and Bathrobes, hosted by Women warriors of Light. We've loved exploring the stories of remarkable women or the teachings of the Savior J Day with you.

If today's episode brought someone special to mind, be sure to spread the word and don't forget to hit that subscribe button so you never miss a moment of inspiration and sisterhood. Just a friendly reminder. All opinions we share are entirely personal as we are trying to decipher and apply Bible teachings just like you are.

Until next time, stay faithful and may your journey be blessed and illuminated by God's love.