UnexpectedSample

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.

Adapted from Unexpected: Leave Fear Behind, Move Forward in Faith, Embrace the Adventure by Christine Caine. Copyright © 2018 by Christine Caine. Reprinted with permission of Zondervan Publishing. All rights reserved.