UnexpectedSample

When I learned I had a cancerous tumor on my thyroid in 2015, it was so unexpected. But as I walked through that experience, I realized that if we stop and think about it, every day is filled with the unexpected. We make our “to-do” lists. We set out thinking our day will go according to plan. But it doesn’t, because interruptions that we never saw coming invade our lives and usher in the unexpected.

But as surprising as the unexpected is to us, we need to remember that our unexpected is never unexpected to God. God knew that day would come in my life, and he was already in that day waiting for me. Fear tried to grip me like it naturally does when we receive any bad news, but I knew I couldn’t let it overwhelm me.

I knew I had to stop my mind from going too far—thinking about Nick and our girls and the unknown future, if I would live or die, if it was curable or not. I knew enough to recognize the runaway train of thought in my head could speed quickly down a dangerous track and derail me into a dark place. I knew that I needed to be in faith. Like many situations I’d been through before, I knew there was a choice that was mine to make: Would I walk in fear or faith?

It was faith that had always propelled me forward through my circumstances in the past, so I chose faith. That didn’t mean, however, that the fear went away. It still tempted me, but I knew that being tempted with fear wasn’t the same as giving into it—and not giving into it was the only way I could overcome its grip.

I began walking in faith by encamping myself in what I call a “faith cocoon.” It’s when I proactively decide to stay diligent in the word, listen to worship music continuously, and only allow faith-filled voices to speak into my life about a particular situation. I knew to speak only faith. I had learned that we either feed fear or we feed faith, and that I had the power to choose which one I would feed—so I fed my faith. I ran to God and not away from God. I fought the good fight of faith.

You can dig deeper into this message of supernatural peace and complete trust in God even when life takes an unexpected turn through Christine's newest book, Unexpected. Learn more about it here. 

Adapted from Unexpected: Leave Fear Behind, Move Forward in Faith, Embrace the Adventure by Christine Caine. Copyright © 2018 by Christine Caine. Reprinted with permission of Zondervan Publishing. All rights reserved