Expect the Unexpected. I heard this a lot when preparing for the race but never knew exactly how to take it in.
Many times when someone talks about experiencing something unexpected, it carries a negative connotation. Unanticipated struggles arise, the outcome isn’t what we had hoped for, or life simply doesn’t look the way we had planned it would. It’s generally not a good thing. It’s not what we expected, and we’re not happy with it. At different times during this journey, I would have told you the same thing about much of my past 2 months in Thailand
To say the least, living in Thailand has not been what I expected at all.
Before coming here, I didn’t expect to go through so many trials, to see my sin so clearly, or to struggle in the ways that I have. I didn’t expect the homesickness to hit so hard or to not have a specific ministry to serve with. I didn’t expect for it to be so hard to love sometimes or to struggle to enjoy being here. (I mean, come on, I get to live in Thailand!) I didn’t expect a lot of what this has been.
Something I’m learning, though, is that the while the unexpected can refer to the hard times, it can also speak of some of the most beautiful experiences we go through.
With that thought in mind, let me say again, living in Thailand has not been what I expected at all.
I didn’t expect to love my Thai family so deeply or to be loved so wholeheartedly. I didn’t expect to experience the love and grace of God in the ways I have. I didn’t expect that I would look back and be grateful for every tear shed, struggle endured, or pain I experienced, and I didn’t expect that I was going to miss it so much here. I didn’t expect to experience the fullness of life in the middle of hardship, and I didn’t expect to grow so much. I didn’t expect strangers to become family or for the conflicts we experienced to bond us even closer in love. I didn’t expect it to be so raw and real yet simultaneously so full and good. I didn’t expect so much laughter and love to fill up a household, and I didn’t expect to look back and see so much life lived. But I do.
And after 2 months of beautifully unexpected life here, I will leave this place I’ve come to call home in 2 days. I’ll leave with countless lessons learned, memories made, and my life changed forever. I’ll leave having experienced the unexpected. And the truth? I love that.
Because Thailand was not what I expected at all … it was so much better. And it was exactly what God had planned for me. This has been what the Lord was expecting all along.
Psalm 139 reminds me that God knows me better than I know myself, and He knows what I need, what is best for me. It may not be what I expected, but it’s always better. Sometimes I just have to trust in the midst of it and wait to be able to see it. But it always rings true!
So if you’re in a hard season or going through the unexpected, hang in there. Meet Jesus in every place, feel all the things, and run to Him with them. Know that He is worth trusting and has a long-term plan in mind with you’re truest good at His heart. Don’t give up. Don’t lose heart, dear friend, for He loves you. Once this season passes, I believe you’ll be able to look back and see how the unexpected was better than anything you could have expected anyway, and I believe you’ll know God better through it too.
His plan for us is truly the best plan, and I’m thankful to be right in the middle of His plan for me.
“Now to Him who is able to do immeasurable more than all we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations forever and ever. Amen.” Ephesians 3:20-21
