If someone had asked you 5 years ago where you would be today, would you have seen your current life? Or did you have something much different than the life you are living?
I must admit... I could not. Five years ago, I was quite pregnant with my youngest child. My oldest child was thriving in school. My husband was serving as an active duty Marine, as he'd planned to do through retirement. I had a cute home, a reliable car and plenty of money in the bank. Things were good. Things were--- relatively speaking- pretty easy going. Then the unexpected. Due to military downsizing, that retirement plan fell through. We found ourselves in a state of uncertainty unlike any we had experienced in our marriage.
Today, I'm sharing with you a book on this very topic, Christine Caine's 'Unexpected':
Is it possible to have peace in an uncertain world? To not only expect the unexpected but embrace it?
Most of us want to have life under control. But God wants us to anticipate the unexpected with a faith deeply rooted in his goodness. He wants us to know that because he is in control, we don’t have to be.
In Unexpected, beloved author Christine Caine helps us walk into the life God has for us—unknowns and all. Using dramatic examples from her own journey, Christine offers real-life strategies and biblical inspiration to help us move from fear and worry about ourselves to hope and trust in God. As we learn new ways to manage disappointment, strengthen our hearts, and build our faith, we can enjoy a new adventure with God that is more fulfilling than any day we spend trying to anticipate what will happen next.
Stepping into our God-given destiny means stepping into the unknown, but we can embrace that calling because God knows it already. Nothing in our lives takes God by surprise. So even in the midst of personal upheaval, relational challenges, financial stresses, family transitions, career disappointments, and chaotic world affairs, we can expect God to be good and do good. What other expectation do we need to have? Listen to God’s dare to trust him in every unknown of your life today.
I must admit, I'm not one who handles the unexpected well. Let's just call it what it is... I'm a control freak. I like to plan. I like to know exactly what's going to happen and when it's going to happen. I like consistency. The fact that I fell in love with a military man and then had a special needs child? Well, I think that must be proof that God has a sense of humor, don't you? But even through all of that, I still try to have some resemblance of consistency and when things don't go right, I do have a tendency to struggle with dealing with that. Needless to say, I needed this book.
When we become Christians, we are not promised that everything is going to go perfectly. We are not told that the answer to our every prayer is going to be a year, and we're not promised that the answer is going to come right now. In fact, quite the opposite. We are however promised that throughout anything that life throws at us, God is with us. This book is a fantastic reminder of just that.
It is packed full with great stories of the expectations and disappointments that we all have to overcome throughout our lives, interweaved beautifully with Biblical wisdom to remind us that through these changes, through these journeys, God will bring us through, if we can only trust in him.
If you're going through unexpected changes in your life and are struggling to deal, this book is a must read! It is available to purchase now at your favorite Christian book retailers.
And one very lucky reader is going to win a copy for themselves. Enter using the giveaway form below:
I'd love to read this book.
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