I wasn\u2019t a gal who liked surprises. I was the gal who prided herself in knowing what all my presents were under the Christmas tree. I did a good job of unwrapping and wrapping them back up again. I\u2019m not proud about that conniving reveal about myself. On my 50th birthday, my precious and adoring husband took me to our favorite restaurant for a romantic dinner and night. I loved the surprise of an 18-kt gold watch that was engraved on the back with \u201cDonna, With all my love, Ron \u201898\u201d. I loved it. But I didn\u2019t love the surprise party he had arranged when we got home. The night had been going so well and now I had to mix and mingle. I\u2019m ashamed of the sour attitude that I hid from the crowd. I have learned so much about life\u2019s surprises. I\u2019d like to say I embrace them all now, but I sure don\u2019t like the ones that catch me off guard. Like the surprise we were given when my sweetheart\u2019s bone biopsy results revealed the worst possible report.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Maybe you\u2019ve been caught off guard in life too. The surprises that come may be full of life\u2019s best stuff and other surprises that are challenging and earthshaking. In life’s university, the course work is challenging. There are no easy grades, no fluffy classes. But, God, is the Master Mentor and He is instructing us down to the minutest detail if we will pay attention. It isn’t an assembly line classroom experience\u2014it is directed study. Our attention and response to God will soon reveal the fruit of divine coaching and instruction. Lord knows I\u2019ve needed that instruction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What comforts my heart when faced with a surprise twist that threatens to send me veering, NEVER surprises God. He sees the end from the beginning. \u201cI make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say, \u2018My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please.\u201d Isaiah 46:10<\/p>\n\n\n\n
No matter what \u2013 God is NEVER surprised by us or our circumstances. It has taken me a lifetime to get that, but now that I know it, it\u2019s how I roll. Maybe it’s a new pain in a place where we never had a pain before. It may be a surprise phone call from someone in need. It may be a sudden job loss, or so many other surprises that break our stride. Though it may be a jolt to OUR plans, it’s not a jolt to God’s plans. Our consolation is the “knowing” that whatever comes our way, and whatever we may encounter, God’s got this. In fact, He knew about it before it got to us. He knows how it’s all going to turn out and, in fact, He has special plans for turning it for our good. What a relief that is! And whatever we do and say \u2013 whether good or bad — our Father knows us well. We are no surprise to Him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There is no fate. There is no random chance. There is no palm reading necessary. What God knows is what God will do. The future is not some kind of freewheeling game of God\u2019s will that He is waiting to see where the ball lands. God knows the future because He plans the future, and He is never surprised by what He plans. So, let\u2019s ride His will\u2019s wave right to the plans and purposes He planned for us right from our start!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I wasn\u2019t a gal who liked surprises. I was the gal who prided herself in knowing what all my presents were under the Christmas tree. I did a good job of unwrapping and wrapping them back up again. I\u2019m not proud about that conniving reveal about myself. On my 50th birthday, my precious and adoring…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14193,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[20378,20376,20377],"tags":[1210,20370,1739,1769,16061,20371,4661,11996,40,20372,20373,7085,20375,20374,4357,16758],"class_list":["post-14192","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-no-surprise-to-god","category-surprise","category-surprise-party","tag-blog","tag-caught-off-guard","tag-challenging","tag-christian","tag-consolation","tag-earthshaking","tag-god-knows","tag-gods-will","tag-inspiration","tag-lifes-university","tag-no-fate","tag-no-surprise-to-god","tag-palm-reading","tag-random-chance","tag-surprise","tag-surprise-party"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14192","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14192"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14192\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14194,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14192\/revisions\/14194"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/14193"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14192"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14192"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14192"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}