expecting the unexpected

when Mike and I were dating, we thought it would be really funny to buy one of those really cheap Mervyn's plastic rings. You know, one of those that is a "diamond" in a "setting" (so funny writing about this 4 years later, as Mike now works a a fine jewelry store). And...we thought it would be funny to fake a proposal to one of our good friends, Dave and Nancy Larson. 

I believe it was a Sunday morning at WestGate, and we were in the video overflow room. I threw that cheap ring on my ring finger and my hand and said, "We're engaged, Nancy!" and I am pretty much sure she was in shock. we had only dated like, 2 months, and people knew that we were dating but didn't know how serious we were. She shouted "Congratulations!" and hugged us, and then we threw out the kicker: we were just kidding. We did the same exact thing to Dave, who was a bit less animated but did give us a congratulatory hug. And lo and behold, less than 3 months later, we really were engaged and she said, "you are kidding me this time, are you?". And she knew us, knew we were jokesters and we still got her pretty good. sometimes we just expect the unexpected. She expected us to do some kind of prank, but was still caught off guard and was not expecting it.

I sometimes act like this with God. I expect that he won't use me, and yet he does in ways that I can't be expecting Him to act. I expect something to work out a certain way, and he works in a way that it totally unexpected. I was cracking up reading my last blog when I was saying "I'm not even sure I will have any deep revelations during my hiatus from the world to blog" (I obviously did not send much time on my grammar-hah!). It was probably one of the BEST times where God has given me such clarity. Maybe not deep thoughts, but much clarity. 

I unfortunately went into vacation time expecting that it would be dull, boring and uninspiring. That I would come back to work tomorrow just as tired and weary. That I would be cynical during a wedding (not of the couple, i think they are great, but of the "romanticizing" of marriage. Hello, its a lot of work! Wonderful work. but it's hard.) That I would be cynical to the people I would meet and cling to Amy Boschen like I was in kindergarten and she was my only friend (sorry friends!). 

But instead, God did the unexpected. Every area where I did not expect Him to work to change my perspective, He did. I have fallen even more in love with my husband. I have fallen more in love with my job. I am feeling as though the paradigm has shifted and priorities went with it. I met and reconnected great people my age (with and without kids) who are making it (somehow). We were well taken care of by a little italian housekeeper and woke up to breakfast, coffee, orange juice, and a hug every morning (a bit more than usual-well, minus the hug). I was filled with a newfound hopefulness, a sense of being renewed and a new understanding on what it means to be taken care of by God. 

It doesn't just mean that there is food on our table and a roof over our head, although that can be part of it. But I am remembering this weekend that it is more than that-He comes to give us life and give it to the fullest. When we are weary and tired, He fills us. When we are thirsty, He quenches it for us. And He continually fills us and my soul is refreshed. Instead of a fake Mervyn's ring, He gave me the real deal. And while I expected God to do something, I didn't know exactly what and to what extent-and God showed me the unexpected. You'd think I'd know how He works by now-but He's caught me by surprise yet again. And I love that about Him.