It was a milestone birthday for me.

My husband tried to keep the details as much of a surprise as possible.  Family and friends were called, the food was ordered, the house was impeccably clean, and of course, the special cake was ordered.

The party never happened.

The morning of the event, my husband’s father became ill, and an ambulance was called.  Completely unexpected, we were in for a shock.  As we made plans to follow him to the hospital, we quickly called the guests to update them.

I remember sitting in his hospital room later that evening while he was recovering.  My father-in-law was sharing stories about work and how he shared Christ to all his clients, and I remember feeling amazed.

Every client heard about Christ? Wow. That is marketplace ministry at its finest.

And it’s true the impact he had on people because his customers showed up at the hospital to visit him.

Sitting in a hospital chair wasn’t what I had expected to do that evening, but I had a new perspective on gratefulness.

It’s one thing to be happy when you’re celebrating something fun, but it’s another thing to be grateful when you realize what you could have lost.

That day was more than ten years ago.

My father-in-law has been through quite a few struggles in his life since then, and he looks better than ever now.  If you were to hear his stories, you can attest that we serve the God of miracles.

My husband made sure I was celebrated a day later, and he brought out the cake with the surprise photo of me taken before I discovered hair straighteners.

There are valuable lessons learned when we’re caught off guard.

We never expected to be mask and Zoom experts a few months ago, but we can now say with confidence that material things don’t bring us the same joy as it used to.

Family, health, and time top the list, but most importantly, we realize that nothing is a surprise to our Heavenly Father, who is in control and has a way of making something good come out of all of this.

“The Lord has done great things for us; we are glad.” Psalm 126:3 (ESV)

~Betsy