Well, she didn't say the world "timeline". She just said "Q set a series of events in place bringing your contact with the Borg far sooner than it should have."
I just took that to mean that had he left well enough alone, they'd encounter them eventually but now it'll be much sooner than if he hadn't. Not that they were destined to meet them later on or that history had been changed.
True, but that doesn't alter my point. I was pointing out that were it not for Q sending the E-D to J-25, the Borg would not have invaded when they did. Remember that they had
already attacked Federation and Romulan territory, but apparently decided that the Federation and Romulans weren't worth the effort of assimilating and left. The events at J-25 was what changed their mind.
As it was stated by others I too took it as more "you're not ready for this" then "in the correct timeline this should have happend later"
True, though less is said about
why the Federation wasn't prepared. If Q hadn't thrown the E-D over to J-25, the Federation would have had years, perhaps even decades longer before the Borg were "officially" encountered. This might have led to them learning more about the Borg as they expanded into that area of space. They might have encountered more destroyed civilizations, refugees, or others who have run into the Borg, and had a more clear picture of what they were about. They might have been better prepared when the first official encounter did occur. Instead of "let's try diplomacy and do nothing until the Borg rip chunks out of our ship" their response might be "fire all weapons" and/or "get the fuck out of here!"
Or perhaps the Federation might have even be able to figure out how to effectively deal with them. Guinan felt that doing so was possible, but that the Federation ready to do so right at that moment. Perhaps given the extra time they could have figured out something.
"I reject your reality and substitute my own!" - The official Troll motto, as stated by Adam Savage