Taking a deep breath, I mustered up a joyful greeting and answered the phone – knowing the news couldn’t be good. After all, it was 10 o’clock on a Wednesday night. Doctors don’t call at that hour with good news.
In a nine-and-a-half-minute phone call, my world changed. As I hung up the phone, I looked at the notes I had been taking…
Cancer
Really? Me? Cancer? How could it be?
The “unexpected” had just hit.
I wonder if Mary felt similar disbelief when the angel visited her to announce her “unexpected” pregnancy with baby Jesus.
“What? Me? A Baby? How? Can you repeat that?! I didn’t quite understand what you said…”
Although we paint a picture of Mary as an innocent teenage girl, I think Mary was a strong young lady. She had to be. She experienced the “unexpected” – far beyond what her imagination could fathom with the initial news of her miracle pregnancy…
“A baby? Ohhhhh. Ohhhhkay… The King of the World? I can get behind that! Talk about being catapulted to ‘celebrity’ status!”
In reality, she became anything but a celebrity. Her “unexpected” began as a teenage girl who was doing everything right. It soon progressed to Mary giving birth in a stinky barn, only to end at every mother’s worst nightmare – watching her son die murdered… unjustly.
If you’re anything like me, you have a rough sketch in your mind of how your life will progress. (Mary probably did too) Marriage, babies, graduations, marriages, grandbabies and family surrounding you as you peacefully pass into the arms of Jesus.
Although I don’t know your situation, it’s likely that there are, have been, or soon will be a degree of “unexpected” events in your world because life rarely unfolds as we imagine. There are hiccups, wrong turns, and then “Unexpected” hits us. Illnesses, deaths, infertility, betrayal, divorces, accidents, addictions, lawsuits, injustices, etc.
While Mary’s “unexpected” brought uncertainty and deep sorrow, as it often does, it also had to bring an indescribable sweet joy.
Join me as I share the rest of this story as a part of Lyli Dunbar’s Refined Series. Being refined is uncomfortable and can shake our world. I pray that you find encouragement in these posts.
Cheryl says
Beautiful….thank you for your strong example in your faith journey. I appreciate it as your experiences relate to the Virgin Mary and her faith in God
Marva | SunSparkleShine says
Char, thank you for sharing your private unexpected story so that we may see a caring God who meets us in our brokenness.
Blessings to you for 2019.
~ linda says
Oh, Char…news of the undesired…news of salvation coming…news to our hearts through the hard stuff by a God Who truly does know us and loves us and is right with us. I am walking through such a hard place but very different from you and Mary too. I am a widow of almost 7 months now and it is hard. But I, too, have a God Who never leaves me nor forsakes me. He has provided in ways I could not have imagined. He has taken all my tears to that bottle in the Heaven. He has let me lean on Him and His shoulders. I am so very grateful for being His daughter. Thank you, Char, for being so open to us. I am slowly blogging and am wanting to, but it, too, is hard. I love you, my sister in the Lord.
Caring through Christ, ~ linda
Char says
Linda, your precious heart if so evident. You love deeply. And I am so sorry for your loss- I cannot imagine the empty spaces and pain you’ve experienced in the last 7 months. I pray that as intense as the pain has been that would equal the intensity of the Lord’s presence as you walk through this. He knows. Thanks for reaching out. You will be in my prayers as we embark on a new year that -for some -holds a “?” more than excitement.