The Ones Who Came First: What the Nativity Witnesses Teach Us About Showing Up

I’ve been thinking a lot about the people who met Jesus first.

Not the crowds who came later. Not the disciples who followed Him for three years. Not the thousands who heard the Sermon on the Mount.

But the FIRST ones. The nativity witnesses to His birth.

Shepherds. Prophets. A teenage mother. An elderly widow. Foreigners from the East.

The unexpected guests at the most important birth in history.

Last week, I launched a book about these witnesses. THE UNEXPECTED GUEST tells their stories from their perspectives—what it might have been like to actually BE there.

Writing these 12 narratives changed something in me.

Because here’s what I noticed: God chose the wrong people.

If you were announcing the birth of the Messiah, you’d tell:

• The priests
• The scribes
• The religious leaders
• The king
• The wealthy
• The powerful

Instead, God told:

• Shepherds (the lowest social class)
• An 84-year-old widow (overlooked and invisible)
• Foreign astrologers (pagans, technically)
• A teenage girl (powerless and poor)
• A carpenter (working class, nothing special)

God announced the most important event in history to people who didn’t matter.

To people the world overlooked. To people who had no platform, no influence, no credentials.

I launched my book last Friday. It didn’t go viral. Didn’t become a bestseller. Didn’t reach thousands.

It reached [4] people so far. Maybe fewer than I hoped. Definitely fewer than I’d dreamed.

And I’ve been wrestling with that all weekend.

Until I remembered: God chooses the unlikely. The small. The overlooked.

The shepherds weren’t influential. But they were faithful. They showed up. They went running toward wonder.

Anna wasn’t powerful. But she was persistent. She waited 63 years. She didn’t give up.

Mary wasn’t impressive. But she said yes. Despite the cost. Despite the fear.

Maybe faithfulness matters more than size.

Maybe showing up matters more than success.

Maybe God’s way has always been about choosing the small things and making them significant.

THE UNEXPECTED GUEST has 12 chapters. 12 perspectives. 12 nativity witnesses. Each one teaches something different about faith:

**The Innkeeper’s Wife** → Making room when you have nothing left

**The Shepherd Boy** → Running toward wonder instead of away from fear

**The Midwife** → Ordinary work becoming sacred

**The Older Shepherd** → Faithful waiting when nothing seems to happen

**Anna the Prophetess** → Persistence through decades of disappointment

**Simeon** → Finally resting after a lifetime of obedience

**The Magi’s Servant** → Being seen by God when the world overlooks you

**Mary** → Saying yes to the impossible

**Joseph** → Choosing love over law

**Elizabeth** → Believing God for the miraculous

**The Bethlehem Child** → Carrying holy memories through a lifetime

**The Donkey** → Serving humbly, bearing the weight of God

Each story is 15-20 minutes. Perfect for Advent reading. [$2.99 Kindle/$14.99 Paperback]

As you head into Advent this year, which witness do you most need to hear from?

Do you need the shepherd boy’s reminder to run toward wonder?

Do you need Anna’s encouragement to keep waiting, keep believing, even when it’s been years?

Do you need Mary’s courage to say yes when the ask feels impossible?

Do you need the donkey’s reminder that humble service matters?

Here’s what I’m learning:

The size of your platform doesn’t determine your significance.

The number of people who see you doesn’t measure your worth.

God uses the small. The overlooked. The faithful few.

He always has.

So if you’re showing up faithfully in a small way…

If you’re serving in obscurity…

If you’re waiting for something that hasn’t come yet…

You’re in good company.

You’re walking the same path as the nativity witnesses.

And that matters more than you know.

— Grab THE UNEXPECTED GUEST below:

And tell me in the comments: Which witness do you most relate to right now?

Blessings,

Wanda