Unexpected

Scriptures: Ephesians 3:20, 1 Timothy 6:12

When I learned I had a cancerous tumor on my thyroid in 2015, it was so unexpected. But as I walked through that experience, I realized that if we stop and think about it, every day is filled with the unexpected. We make our “to-do” lists. We set out thinking our day will go according to plan. But it doesn’t, because interruptions that we never saw coming invade our lives and usher in the unexpected.

But as surprising as the unexpected is to us, we need to remember that our unexpected is never unexpected to God. God knew that day would come in my life, and he was already in that day waiting for me. Fear tried to grip me like it naturally does when we receive any bad news, but I knew I couldn’t let it overwhelm me.

I knew I had to stop my mind from going too far—thinking about Nick and our girls and the unknown future, if I would live or die, if it was curable or not. I knew enough to recognize the runaway train of thought in my head could speed quickly down a dangerous track and derail me into a dark place. I knew that I needed to be in faith. Like many situations I’d been through before, I knew there was a choice that was mine to make: Would I walk in fear or faith?

It was faith that had always propelled me forward through my circumstances in the past, so I chose faith. That didn’t mean, however, that the fear went away. It still tempted me, but I knew that being tempted with fear wasn’t the same as giving into it—and not giving into it was the only way I could overcome its grip.

I began walking in faith by encamping myself in what I call a “faith cocoon.” It’s when I proactively decide to stay diligent in the word, listen to worship music continuously, and only allow faith-filled voices to speak into my life about a particular situation. I knew to speak only faith. I had learned that we either feed fear or we feed faith, and that I had the power to choose which one I would feed—so I fed my faith. I ran to God and not away from God. I fought the good fight of faith.

Scripture: Philippians 4:8-9

Whether we ever understand why or why not, the only way through any unexpected shock is through. No matter how much we wish we could go around a situation, under it, over it or be delivered from it, there are times God wants to walk us through a process, because that is what’s best for us. 

The challenge then becomes choosing not to allow the enemy to use these unplanned events to rob us of life. The enemy wants to derail our lives from the plans and purposes of God—if not for a lifetime, then at least for a season. He wants to pull our focus away from God’s promises and divert it to our crisis. He wants to paralyze us in the present, and to veil our vision and hope for our future. 

Moving through whatever you’re facing isn’t about merely surviving until it’s over, and then numbing your way through the rest of your life. Moving through is about continuing to live a life of purpose and passion—of always moving forward, never losing sight of our objective—no matter how devastating the unexpected is. For me, facing cancer renewed my resolve: While I know that I will live forever in eternity, I choose to live fully alive here on earth and make every second count for God and his kingdom purposes until the day I die.

I was still a mother to my children, so I was not going to let the news of cancer mentally bench me from parenting my girls. I was still a wife to Nick, and I would not allow this news to take me away emotionally. I wanted to be present in every moment we had. I still wanted to keep leading our ministry and make every one of my days on the planet count for the glory of God.

Cancer was a condition I had, not who I was. I didn’t want one unexpected condition to define my overall condition, so I was not going to let it set the tone of my home, derail my faith, or stop me from living in every moment God had for me. I couldn’t. But that decision was an hourly—and sometimes moment-to-moment—fight in my mind and will to stay on point. Regardless of what I was going through, I was still a child of God, a mother, a wife, a teacher, a friend, and a daughter—and I had to fight to stay focused.

Scriptures: Romans 8:37, Isaiah 54:17, 2 Corinthians 12:9, Hebrews 13:5

It’s time for us to get good at navigating the unexpected, to embrace and understand that through unexpected occurrences in life—both good and bad—we need to trust God, anticipating him to move in it while he moves us through it. We need to realize that he never expected us to live boring and predictable lives, even though we work hard to create regular routines. He’s called us to live a life full of joys and sorrows, battles and celebrations, success and failures, ups and downs. And he wants us to learn how to live expecting to gain from the unexpected, especially as the world grows ever more chaotic and unpredictable. 

In our humanness, we will try to control everything—including God. Yet, we serve a God who refuses to be controlled by us. That’s because part of the mystery and the adventure of following Jesus is to trust him, no matter what is going on around us. To keep our hearts so open to him, that when the unexpected happens, he can use it for our good. To free him to use the unexpected—a necessary catalyst—to grow us, sanctify us and help us see life with a whole new perspective, because nothing grows without disruption and interruption—without the unexpected. 

If we could get this truth deeply woven into the fabric of our being, we would be far less fearful in a world that is complex and ever-changing. We could relax in knowing that while we cannot expect to control the unexpected, God is in control of everything, and therefore we can expect that he will be faithful to the promises he has given us in his Word.

The unexpected adventure ahead of us is sure to have twists and turns that we didn’t see coming, where the odds will stack up against us, but that’s when God will have us right where he wants us. Perfectly poised in a place to walk in faith, believing for signs, wonders and miracles, expecting the supernatural. 

Scriptures: Romans 8:28, 1 Peter 4:12-13

God wants us to learn how to accept every unexpected event as an invitation to trust Jesus and his word, to expect his goodness all the way through. A life lived like that is one of the most powerful forces on the planet—because there’s a momentum of courage and faith that propels us into new places. 

What if we learned to embrace the unpredicted shocks, stressors and volatility of life and then use it for our gain? Maybe there’s a perspective, an ingredient, in the way we process life that needs to change. Maybe there’s a level of trust even higher than to believe “that all things work together for our good” (Romans 8:28). Maybe there’s more…

So many times, when things get worse before they get better, harder before easier, darker before lighter, we doubt. We doubt God. We doubt His calling. We doubt His faithfulness. We give up. I guess he didn’t open that door. I guess he didn’t call me. I guess this isn’t his will. When did God say that it would be easy? When did he say it would be effortless? Something that I have learned over and over and over again is that… 

Closed doors do not mean that God is not opening a way. 

Increased cost does not mean that God is not calling. 

The presence of a battle does not mean the absence of God in the war. 

Trials don’t mean we are out of the will of God. They often mean we are exactly in the will of God—right where we’re supposed to be, doing exactly what we’re supposed to be doing. Fighting the good fight of faith. Standing. Believing. Because he is working all things together for our good…and more!

Scriptures: Proverbs 15:24, Romans 8:15, 1 John 4:4, 1 John 4:18

Fear is not from God, and it’s not more powerful than God. Yet, he knew it would come to steal our peace, not once or twice, but constantly throughout our lifetime. So in his great mercy and faithfulness to us, God made a way for us to be more than equipped to overcome its effects and walk in faith. He gave us three offensive weapons to lean into when we’re attacked: “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind” (2 Timothy 1:7, NKJV). 

This verse clearly shows us that fear is a spirit, and it’s not from God. So every time fear tries to grip us, it’s the enemy trying to take us down and terrify us out of trusting God. But the spirit of fear is no match for the Spirit of God who lives inside of us—the one who gives us power, love and a sound mind. We can rely on, draw upon, and walk in peace in the midst of fear and anxiety, because He who is in us is greater than anything or anyone that comes against us. 

When we rely on the Holy Spirit, we can take heart, because we are not fighting alone. We fight the good fight of faith in God’s power, not by focusing on fear and trying to defeat it in our own strength, but by relying on God, knowing he is faithful. By leaning into the power, love and sound mind he has given us. 

I have come to realize that the more I trust my heavenly father, the more fear is defeated in my heart and in my mind. If I focus on God more than an unexpected circumstance, then it is God who will be biggest in my heart and mind, and peace will be my outcome.

God’s Word promises us that the path he has given us winds upward not downward, but we have to make him bigger to stay on that path mentally, emotionally, and physically.

Scripture: Psalms 62:1-2

How many of us live our everyday lives fearful of the future just because we don’t know what it will look like? When, truthfully, we cannot control the past, present or future? Jesus spoke directly to our human tendency of fearing the unknown and worrying about the future when he said, “Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?…Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own” (Matthew 6:27, 34).

God wants us to trust him, instead of worry, no matter what our future looks like. Trusting him is a process, not a one-time event. It’s the ongoing journey called life. It’s a cycle we repeat daily, hourly, sometimes even minute to minute, that leads to consistent growth. We overcome, get peace, but then get hit with another unexpected blow. But each time we go through the cycle, we grow stronger and more mature.

When we feel like we’re losing heart, God wants us to lean into him: “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). In this verse, to have troublemeans “to be squashed.” Unsolved problems, ongoing problems, tend to squash and suffocate us. They overwhelm us. They try to keep us in a state of perpetual fear, but we have to learn how to fight the good fight of faith in spite of how we feel. 

God equips us to resist fear by trusting him. When we expect instead of worry, then we can live with a heart full of hope. When we anticipate the best, instead of the worst, we can live faith-filled every day.

Scriptures: Deuteronomy 31:6, Hebrews 12:1-2

Imagine how free we’d feel if we learned to truly believe that in every situation, trust was the antidote to fear, that consciously trusting God would cause our moments of anxiety and panic to be short-lived. Imagine if we could grow to a place where trusting him was our first reaction. “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight” (Proverbs 3:5-6).

It’s time for us to live this way. I’ve learned how every single one of my experiences, both the expected and the unexpected, is never wasted in God. I’ve learned how he uses them in my life—past and present—to prepare and to propel me into my future. I believe God wants us to get to a place of such great faith that we anticipate the gains that are coming into our lives as we continue to trust him no matter what we’re facing. It’s part of how we become more like Christ.

When Jesus was on the cross, facing death, he thought of more than his immediate suffering. He thought of more than the fierceness of the enemy’s attack. He thought of us, and what his present circumstance would produce in our future. And he showed us how to live free from the fear that inevitably comes with the unexpected. Later, the apostle Peter drew on Christ’s example when he wrote: “Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you; but rejoice to the extent that you partake in Christ’s sufferings, that when his glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy”(1 Peter 4:12–13 NKJV).

“Do not think it strange.” We could read that as: Do not be afraid of the unexpected. Do not think, What next? Let’s not allow fear to condition us to expect the worst. Instead, let’s courageously move through every new event expecting God to do something great with our lives, trusting him at a new level of faith. Let’s remember that he will never leave us nor forsake us.

Scriptures: 2 Corinthians 1:3-4, Hebrews 10:23

When life doesn’t go our way—which it rarely does, and when our expectations lead to utter disappointment, we don’t always know how to recover our wonder of trusting God. Disappointment is that let-down feeling where our emotions bottom out and our faith does too. It’s a powerful destructive force that can leave us stuck in a moment through which we filter and even forfeit future experiences. It is a force that we have to face and overcome to live a life full of faith embracing the unexpected.

Jesus always walks with us through our disappointment. Through our heartaches. Leading us to recover our wonder. Leading us to something better ahead. He is the one who helps us remember that although it happened to us, it doesn’t mean it was about us. He wants us to know that disappointment is a place we pass through—never a place where we stay.

When disappointments happen repeatedly, our hearts can grow sick and our thoughts can grow dark. That’s when the enemy can move in and steal the last of our hope. That’s when doubt and unbelief can overtake what’s left of our faith.

Holding to our faith—even in the face of deep disappointment—is critical. Making God’s promises bigger than our disappointments is essential. That’s why God wants us to believe and understand that His promises don’t have expiration dates. They aren’t like passports or gym memberships. They aren’t like the condiments in the fridge or the food in the pantry. Our heavenly father has given us a book full of his promises that have no expiration dates—and he will always make good on his promises. 

Getting into his Word and letting it get into us brings our hearts back to life. Worshipping him opens the door for the Holy Spirit to encourage us and heal us so we can trust again. Learning how to change our perspective through steps like these helps us transition from fearing the unexpected to trusting God through it. 

Scriptures: Psalms 39:7, Matthew 8:13, 2 Corinthians 1:20

We can often miss the adventure that God has before us, because we get stuck in the disappointment behind us—when people or life have failed us. We move on in years, but our life often stops at the point of our greatest disappointments if we don’t go through them. We either go through what happens and manage the disappointments well, or they manage us. 

But despite how we feel, all the disappointment in the world will never change the promises of God, the reality of Jesus, or his destiny for our lives. None of our broken dreams, personal heartaches, or shattered plans will stop his desire for us to fulfill our purpose. Yes, the disappointment is real. The consequences can be devastating. But to keep moving forward, we have to learn to be resilient. We have to learn to trust, like a little child. We have to learn to manage our disappointments well, so we can try again full of renewed hope. 

Has it ever occurred to you that, if you’ll revisit your disappointment, God can give you a new perspective of it and that it can become a tool to help others? That you can take what he gives to you and pass it on? “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God” (2 Corinthians 1:3-4).

Has it ever occurred to you that God has a new trajectory for you getting to your destiny? Disappointment is a place we pass through, not a place where we stay. God wants us emotionally engaged in His purposes. Living in the moment. Fully alive. Hopeful. He wants us to let him restore our hearts, so we can keep moving forward and fulfill his good purpose for our lives. Even when people—and life—fail us. 

Scriptures: Proverbs 4:23, Hebrews 13:5

God made us for relationships—and he made relationships for us. He created us to be connected to him and to live our lives in community with others. Despite the fractures that can occur from differences of opinion or perspective, friendship is truly one of God’s greatest gifts to us.

But this journey of following Jesus means that if we are going to keep our hearts open, soft, sensitive and connected to humanity, then we must realize that we are never going to be bullet-proof when it comes to the unexpected pain and heartache we can experience in fractured friendships.

Every time we’re hurt deeply, we’re faced with the opportunity to let that wound define us and our journey in some capacity—for a season or for the rest of our lives. Maybe we’ve altered our course, scaled back our dreams, or given up on them all together. Maybe we’ve believed something about ourselves—consciously or subconsciously—that may not be true.

Unexpected emotional wounding is so deeply painful because it is…unexpected. It hits when our defenses are down, and our trust levels are up. How critical then to understand that even when people leave us and hurt us, God never leaves us nor forsakes us. He understands what it feels like to be kicked in the gut, to have the wind knocked out of us, and he cares. He promises to be there for us and to help us: “If your heart is broken, you’ll find God right there; if you’re kicked in the gut, he’ll help you catch your breath” (Psalm 34:18, The Message). Even when people are unfaithful, God is always faithful.

Trusting again is the way God wants all our stories to unfold, because trust is the fuel that keeps us moving forward in faith, embracing all the unexpected adventure that God has planned for us. God created us to do life with people. And in order to fulfill our purpose, we will need to build and nurture relationships, connections that involve people who are very human and could quite possibly hurt us. We have to learn how to guard our hearts, and yet, at the same time, be vulnerable to those we pull in close. 

Scriptures: Zechariah 9:12, Jeremiah 17:7, Hebrews 10:35

When we look at the unexpected situations in our lives, we will always find ourselves standing at the threshold of either falling into the chasm of despair, or falling into the arms of a gracious, loving and caring God—a God who wants to carry us over that chasm of despair into a wide-open spacious place of hope.

Hope is unshakeable confidence in God. It doesn’t deny the reality of our pain, but it does give us a life beyond our pain. It gives us permission for a new beginning. It is the happy and confident expectation of good, that lifts our spirits and dares us to believe for a different future. It is always looking to God: “And now, Lord, what do I wait for and expect? My hope and expectation are in you” (Psalm 39:7).

We only can do what we are able to do in our own strength, but when we lean into God, when we run to our stronghold Jesus, he promises to overflow our lives with hope: “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit” (Romans 15:13). He promises to help us become the prisoners of hope he’s called us to be so we can stay hopeful, free to step into a new destiny that we might have never envisioned. 

Sometimes I think hope is an act of defiance, one that God wants us to boldly commit. It’s daring to believe in spite of our losses, in spite of our disappointments. It’s refusing to throw away our confidence and trusting God to reward us because we don’t. It’s daring not to give up and instead, to get our hopes up anyway.

When we risk hoping again, we learn how to live in the present with our future in mind. We move our focus forward. We become prisoners of hope who cling to hope, who speak the language of hope, who don’t put off hope, who live in a place of freedom letting God surprise us with a new future. When we become prisoners of hope, then hope quits being postponed, and the desires God placed in our hearts will be fulfilled—somehow and some way.

Scriptures: Ephesians 4:23, Colossians 3:13

When people unexpectedly attack us, betray or reject us—overtly or subtly—our souls can become so discouraged that we’re tempted to give up. To withdraw. To hold back, fearful of opening up our hearts freely, unable to understand that just because someone in our past hurt us doesn’t mean everyone in our future will. 

But when we invite Jesus into our messy narrative, as we tell him about our story and about all our pain, as we extend forgiveness to others, then he can start reshaping our perspective, reviving our fragmented heart, and restoring our ability to feel, love and care. As we invite him in, he can refill our heart with compassion—just like he did when he saved us—and we can begin to trust again.

Jesus completely forgives us every single time we make a mistake, and he always wants us to freely give that same gift to others. He wants us to forgive every offense—no matter how big or how small—the moment we consciously notice it. He wants us to practice love, grace and mercy—especially to those who wound us the most, because they are often the most wounded. 

I have discovered that when I hurt people, it is often because of a broken place in me—a place of ignorance, fear, insecurity or jealousy that I didn’t realize was there, and I am devastated when I discover the capacity I have to deeply hurt someone. I’m so grateful for the friends who extend grace, love and forgiveness to me. I’m so thankful for the ones who love me enough to keep walking beside me, despite my shortcomings. 

Forgiveness—freely asking for it from God and others, freely offering it to those who hurt us, and even freely extending it to ourselves—is part of how we heal.

Scriptures: Jeremiah 29:11, Hebrews 11:1

I’ve learned that every season of change—of adjusting to the unexpected—is an opportunity to let go of more of our control and place more trust in God. It’s easy to get caught in a whirlwind of where we’re going, of the believing in the trajectory we planned for our lives. But it’s so important to trust him—even when we honestly don’t want to. That strengthens our hearts and keeps us in a place of living expectant of the unexpected. Of anticipating all the good God has for us in every experience. Of being willing to risk something new. Of living with a faith-filled perspective, fully trusting God—no matter what.

Faith is believing the truth of God’s word over the facts of our circumstances, no longer focusing on how many years have gone by, what hasn’t worked and what feels impossible. It’s where we act like King David did when he was just a boy and killed the giant Goliath with only a slingshot and five smooth stones. 

Goliath showed up to the fight with just the facts: “He looked David over and saw that he was little more than a boy, glowing with health and handsome, and he despised him. He said to David, ‘Am I a dog, that you come at me with sticks?’ And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. ‘Come here,’ he said, ‘and I’ll give your flesh to the birds and the wild animals!’” (1 Samuel 17:42-44).

But David showed up with the truth: “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the Lord will deliver you into my hands, and I’ll strike you down and cut off your head. This very day I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds and the wild animals, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel” (1 Samuel 17:45-46).

David was hopeful, defeating the giant because he believed the Word of the Lord over Goliath’s intimidating taunts. He understood what God wants us to understand: the facts can change, but the truth never does. The truth alone has the power to help us move from hopeless to hopeful—and live faithful and faith-filled.

Scriptures: Isaiah 43:19, Psalms 18:29

That the only way to possess, inherit, obtain and apprehend the promises of God—including any words, goals, plans, dreams or visions he’s placed in our hearts—is through faith and patience, just like the writer of Hebrews told us: “We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised” (Hebrews 6:12).

Maybe you have a dream, a goal, a plan you’ve been working toward for years, and you feel God has forgotten you. Whatever it is, God has not forgotten you. The dreams, visions and plans God places in our hearts take time, lots of time. And during all that time, God is working in us so he can work through us. Our part is to exercise faith and patience. Faith is believing God, believing that God is who he says he is, and that he will do what he said he would do. Patience is our capacity to tolerate delay—our ability to wait. It’s trusting that God is good, God does good, and God knows what he is doing, no matter how long it takes—no matter what our purpose is. 

We all are called to the unexpected, and it will always take faith to see it through—but when we move forward by faith, God will always fight for us and do the miraculous. Let’s recognize what God is doing for us, the doors he’s opening for us, the steps he’s ordering for us. Let’s recognize his supernatural power at work in our lives. He will always make a way where there is no way—though it may not be what we expected. He will always honor our obedience. In everything God has called me to do, the miracles happened after I stepped out in faith—after I stepped out in obedience, trusting him.

I don’t know what your purpose is, but I know you have one. I don’t know what God has called you to do, but I know you have a destiny. And I know, at every juncture in your journey, you will find yourself in an impossible place with a decision to make—to shrink back in fear or rise up in faith. One will keep you where you are—and one will deliver you to your future.