When you slip and fall on either a banana peel or more realistically, a wet floor, you most likely were not thinking before, "I'm so excited to slip and fall on my butt later today!" because I'm pretty sure no one thinks like that.
It happened unexpectedly, and you weren't prepared to fall, because you never saw the fall coming.
Sort of similar: last night at about 12:30am, I'm wrapping up my video-game time and watching The Office to a phone call from my mom.
"Britt, Belle (our 12lb fluffy-dog) is breathing harder than usual, and I think we need to take her to the vet."
It wasn't the "Belle's breathing hard" part that was unexpected for me. It was the mindset that "I'm going to bed, but now I'm faced with something unexpected, something I didn't feel like dealing with because I had made plans to go to bed at 12:30am......not 4am when we got back.
John 14:1
Jesus said, "Don't let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust in me."
While my little visit to the vet wasn't as big of a deal for me, I've often faced some pretty big "unexpected's".
There’s the good unexpected's:
+ Unexpected: Someone pays for your meal/coffee when you go out to eat/drink.
+ Unexpected: Pancheros gives you free chips and queso for your 1/2 birthday.
+ Unexpected: You get a message from your boss that he’s upping your work benefits, and you got a raise with it.
+ Unexpected: You get a phone call that your family member no longer has cancer.
+ Unexpected: The troublesome kid you grew up with posts on social media that He was baptized and dedicated his life to God.
And then there’s the unexpected's that not everyone is ready for:
- Unexpected: You sleep past your alarm and you're super-late for an interview.
- Unexpected: Someone in your family becomes ill or is taken from you out of nowhere.
- Unexpected: Someone close to you gets pregnant at 17.
- Unexpected: You lose your job.
- Unexpected: An earthquake hits your home and you lose everything.
With all of these unexpected's, we're not always prepared to face them.
Let me re-phrase that: "We're not always prepared to face them alone."
2 Thessalonians 3:3
But the Lord is faithful and will give you strength and will protect you from the Evil One.
Sometimes with these "unexpected's", we're called to be more than just the conquerors of the battles others are facing directly.
Sometimes God calls us to be the comforter, the protector, the prayer warrior, or the parent or sibling they need, not just by blood but as family through Him.
Whenever I run into these "unexpected's" (especially the bad ones), I tend to throw my frustration at God, and the "Evil One" mentioned above in Scripture, likes to add fuel to my fire of frustration when I don't seem to have control of a situation.
But that's just the thing:
We don't need to have control of our "unexpected's". We DO NOT need to face every trial, battle, and challenge on our own!
God has placed so many comforters, protectors, warriors, friends, family members, co-workers, and other resources to attack and defend against your "unexpected's".
Those whom God has placed all around you just might have gone through the same thing you're going through, and God got them through it!
I mean he got those in the Bible through their battles, didn't he?
- Mary and Joseph probably weren't ready to be a mom and dad to Jesus, but God sure did get them ready, and carried them through all of their battles!
- Jonah probably wasn't expecting to be swallowed by a whale, let alone survive and be given a second chance afterwards!
- The people of Jericho were probably watching a puppet show and eating fish and chips, not expecting their city to crumble and fall to pieces from the sounds of a marching band.
- Abraham, with knife in hand, was about to sacrifice his one and only son on an altar, but because he was faithful to God, trusting He would save his son, God brought an angel to Abraham with an animal to sacrifice instead of his son. Abraham probably wasn't expecting that to happen, but he sure hoped it would!
The "unexpected's" will never be something you were ready for, but God will ALWAYS be ready.
2 Corinthians 4:8-9
We all have troubles around us, but we are not defeated. We do not know what to do, but we do not give up the hope of living. We are persecuted, but God does not leave us. We are hurt sometimes, but we are not destroyed.
One last thing I wanted to mention was just a little extra proof that God has the power to turn a bunch of hurt into an abundance of healing:
This Tuesday will be the mark of one year since my grandma passed unexpectedly.
While last year was really hard on my family, myself, and especially my grandfather, God forged something really, really special out of all the tears and gloom.
He brought all of my family back together to love on one another, leaving all of the hurt feelings against one another in the past and starting fresh in our relationships with one another. To begin lives of loving and comforting, not lives of ignorance and hatred, just like Satan wants us to all endure.
While it will never make sense why God does what He does, we can forever choose to believe that He will make up for whatever you think He took away from you.
No......people, pets, and places that remain special to us cannot be replaced, but God can fill the holes in our hearts with those we never expected Him to bring into our lives.
1 Peter 5:7
Cast all of your cares and anxieties on Him, because God cares about you.
Questions to Ask Yourself:
1. What unexpected trials are you going through/have gone through in the past?
2. Did God keep you here to suffer in those trials or to rejoice in the fact that what is gone will return to you in Heaven later on?
3. How can you be present for others who are going through trials of their own?
Pray......that God will do the same as He always does: heal, protect, and guide you through whatever kinds of unexpected's hit your life, that you'll have the strength to overcome whatever you face because with God, nothing can defeat you because nothing can defeat Him!
Have faith in God because He will always turn your hurt into healing.
With that said,
Live, love, and be loved.
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