When Life Doesn’t Go As Planned
“What is none of the greatest lessons you’ve learned in life?”
This unexpected question was asked of me recently, after a speech I gave to a teen girls group. After a moment’s thought my answer was; “One of the greatest lesson I’ve learned is that life rarely happens the way you expect it to. However, in those times I learned to trust God even though I don’t understand.”
I didn’t know I would be tested by my response the following morning.
I had returned home to The Bahamas for a visit just the day before. I planned my trip around my dad’s birthday. I spent most of the day I arrived with him. I didn’t see him the following day which was the day I spoke to the girl’s group. The next morning, the day before his birthday, I woke up to the news that he had fallen, and my brother had taken him to the emergency room. He was admitted to the hospital later that day.
I spent the remainder of my trip visiting him at the hospital as he had for the first time in 82 years broken a bone. It certainly isn’t what I planned or how I expected my time with my dad to be. However, I mentally switched gears, made the best of it and trusted that although I really couldn’t see it, God was in the middle of the situation.
If you focus your attention on the unexpected events that happen it can devastate you to the point that you can’t function. So, you must tell yourself that nothing you’re going through is a surprise to God. Find something good to thank God for even during difficult situations. I found comfort and peace in the fact that although my dad fell he was alive. Although I didn’t have the birthday I planned with him I was able to spend his birthday with him.
27 “Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. I do not give peace to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid. John 14:27 (NLV)
What about you? How do you handle your unexpected situations? What is one of the greatest lessons you’ve learned in life?
You’re so right, Bernadine. Life often doesn’t go the way we plan, or the way we want. One lesson I’m learning, and ministry and missions require this, is how to be flexible. On our recent missions trip to India we went out with a position of servant hood and flexibility — and we needed both, very much!
You are right, Bernadine; it is how we handle the unplanned situations. I have been there many times when things went sideways. I know one thing for sure: God is by my side and will see me through.
A valuable lesson.