[Un]-Expected.

I have been thinking about this one phrase recently: The Unexpected. 
It's been all around me for the past year and a half. Lurking around every corner.....at the beginning or end of a month.....sometimes during the middle of the day--it catches me off-guard! I become startled by it but then catch my breath again and learn how to breathe again, this time, with deeper and fuller breaths than before. Maybe I over-dramatized my description of what happens to me when the unexpected happens....hopefully you weren't expecting that. 
............
I'm learning how to be thankful for the unexpected. It's usually something I don't look forward to. I didn't expect my grandma and aunt to pass away last year. I didn't expect my brother-in-law to face pancreatic cancer this year. I didn't expect my own life to have taken the current path it's on. The more I ponder the effects of these encounters I have with the un-expected, I am realizing that it tends to teach me more than circumstances I expected in life would. 
............
When I think upon familiar characters in the Bible who faced unexpected circumstances, one person in particular comes to mind: Mary. Her reaction to the unexpected news that she would be *expecting* to give birth soon left me speechless.
Here it is:

Luke 1: 38: Mary answered, “I am the Lord’s servant. Let everything you’ve said happen to me.”

My reaction would not have been as graceful and humble as Mary's. I am realizing that the unexpected pushes me out of my comfort zone. It transforms my resistance into resilience and is teaching me to take my gaze off of the unexpected circumstance but instead look onto who God is. He is the only constant through life's unexpected and expected times. Anyone who has walked closely with me the past two years has probably seen a more close-up and personal look into how I have been learning to deal with/embrace/learn from the unexpected. I suppose I'll write a memoir detailing those experiences one day. For myself, I have a hard time giving up control and letting the unexpected run its course. If there is one thing I've learned this past year about the unexpected, it is: Learning to embrace the unexpected is scary and uncomfortable, but in that very place is where a little flame called Faith learns to grow.


I wasn't expecting myself to write another blog post yet here I am.....considering the thought of picking this up again. There have been so many lessons the Lord has been teaching me through the unexpected. I hope to clearly articulate my own thoughts in a way that I can look back on these posts I write as reminders to myself of what I'm being taught through life. That is the purpose behind picking this up again. So what can be expected as a result of this blog post? 

An unexpected next blog post.