Expecting the Unexpected
Most of the time, we plan our days…. when we wake up, where we will go, what we will do, etc. I am definitely a planner. I love getting out the old paper calendar and writing things down on certain days with times and notes. There is just something very satisfying about looking at a filled calendar.
About two weeks ago I had been helping a friend clean the apartment she was moving into. We had made great progress after two days of labor and it was time to call it a day. When I arrived home I started a load of laundry, prepped something for my dinner, and began preparing the kitties dinner. While standing at the kitchen sink, I heard a burst of water. Thinking that it must be a loud cycle of the washing machine I ignored it, but then decided to check.
The washer was fine…but I still heard the loud water sound…and then I saw it. Something in the bathroom was spraying water out from under the sink! I ran in and grabbed the line and tried to put it back - no use, it was rusted. I ran out of the bathroom trying to find any/all levers to shut the water off! I grabbed a chair and put it by the front door remembering how to turn off the electricity - but no, I needed to turn off the water!
By now there’s about an inch of water on the bathroom floor and it just keeps coming! I run upstairs to my neighbor's apartment - no answer. So I go to my neighbor across the hall, who I know speaks English - he’s home. I hurriedly explain that there’s water pouring out of my bathroom and I need help to stop it. He comes over, goes into my wet bathroom, and after a few very long seconds finds the right lever, and finally, the flow stops. Praise the Lord!!! We get all the water down the floor drain and I clean the bathroom after he leaves.
None of that was on my “to do” list but it happened anyway, as do most unexpected things. This month, no…year, has been full of unexpected changes; some easy, some hard; most frustrating. Yet through it all, the Lord has provided what we needed right when we needed it, sometimes in very unexpected ways. I take comfort in knowing that nothing surprises Him, or makes Him have to scribble out the plans on the calendar.
I’ve also learned to write in pencil because I don’t know what tomorrow holds, but I know the One who does, so it’s okay if my plans change. Planning, but expecting the unexpected? Yes, that’s right where He wants me and you to be, completely dependent on Him
“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 hope and a future.”
Jeremiah 29:11
Sarah M serves with GlobalGrace in Eastern Europe