Expect the Unexpected

Life is unpredictable right?

Especially now, for me it is unpredictable with the unexpected constantly calling my cell. When I answer my phone I may learn that I need to drive 250 miles to meet someone, change a meeting or attend a training.

I've learned to expect the unexpected and in so many ways, go with it.

But as much as I anticipate the unexpected, I've learned I can never prepare for it.

Sometimes the unexpected comes out of left field, so to speak, and I'm clueless as to how to respond to it!

Go with your gut, right? Sometimes my gut is selfish. Pray about it, right? Sometimes I don't listen to an answer because my mind is made up. Seek counsel, right? So many times when I seek counsel I hear what I want to hear.

I fully believe that there is NO WAY that I can prepare for the unexpected. BUT I do see ways in which God has prepared me in certain situations through past experiences. And when God makes a change, He does it for good. He keeps His promises. I guess that's reason enough not to discount the lessons for today!

One of the most comforting thinks for me today is the first three words of Jeremiah 29:11... "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future."

Here are God's chosen people...in exile to Babylon (probably didn't expect that one)...and God is telling them to settle down and be at peace with their captors...(another unexpected).

He tells them the whole time HE KNOWS. All that matters is that God knows. It doesn't matter if we do or not.

He goes on in compassion and in my own summarization He says, "While in this place you will realize that you need Me and will be desperate to communicate with Me. And when you actually try, I will listen. Then, I'm going to blow your mind again because just as I let you be carried into the unexpected, into captivty, I will lead you out of it back to the land that I promised you. So trust me. I know."

Okay, the real scripture is:

Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you,” declares the LORD, “and will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you,” declares the LORD, “and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile.”

So when the present unexpected invades my mind throughout the day, I'll just verbalize, "For I know".

He knows.