Surprise, surprise

“That’s a boy!”

This is by far one of my most favorite 3-word phrases ever (followed only by the first “I love you” spoken from my husband and tied with “it’s a ballerina!”, after finding out our first child was a girl).

These are the words exclaimed by the birth mother of our adoptive son immediately after birth.

These are the words to which my tears of joy turned to laughter in an instant.

And in that instant was when God had not failed to surprise us yet again!

You see, it was a surprise because for several months we had thought we were getting a little girl!

Jeremiah 29:11 seems to be a theme in our life. “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.”

God DECLARES that HE knows the plans HE has in store for us. No where are we told that OUR plans are what will come about. We can only trust that He wants us to prosper and HE will give us hope and a future through Him and Him alone.

It seems at the most pivotal points in my life, God did not come up and whisper to me what was about to happen. In fact, I have learned that I probably would’ve just said “nope, that’s not for me" and moved right along.

These would have been my responses to "bad" surprises in my life:

“No, God, I don’t want to have a broken family.”

“No thanks!” to the pain of inability to conceive for years.

“What, church hurts? I don’t need it!”

Miscarriage of 3 babies? “Gee, thanks, God.”

“Depression, really? I mean, can’t there be anything better than this?”

So often I have looked at the pains of life as “bad things happening.” So often I have thought that other people were meant to prosper and I was just someone who missed the boat. (In fact there are times I STILL feel that lie in my life.) So often I think I am so inadequate and had I made different choices, where would I really be?

When God says He will prosper us and His plans will not do harm, that He will give us hope and a future, He is telling us that the faith that we put in Him will lead us to eternal life. That when we seek Him with all our hearts we will find Him and He will bring us back from captivity (Jeremiah 29:12-14). He is not telling us we will not struggle or have strife. He is saying that we will come through to the end. Our lives will be proof of His great love for us and we can glorify Him in our struggles, which builds character and hope (“…but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.” Romans 5:3-4).

It’s all in the perspective. Knowing that there is eternal life, I know I can turn what seems “harmful” in my life to real prosperity. Knowing that I can persevere in the trials is what can bring me prosperity.

It is the realization of His plans that I have been able to prosper:

He lead me to a wonderful, Godly man who loves me.

He has allowed me to share my story of hurt and loss through infertility.

He has led our family to a fabulous church home where we can continue to serve Him and our community.

He has brought me out of days of depression and times of despair.

The plans of your life will never be the same as mine, but our response to the ‘surprises’ should be. Confident that He will allow us to prosper, we can glorify Him in all that comes our way, from tears to laughter and trials to triumph.