What Can We Learn From The Unexpected?

Today was a day that started out hurried.

The boys and I are night owls while my husband is an early bird. Our oldest and I had a dental appointment for a cleaning. Because we are night owls this mama overslept and awoke twenty minutes before the first appointment time. Praise the Lord our dentist is here in our town less than three minutes away. We made it in time. 'Lil miracle man had his turn first. It was discovered that he had a bit of bacteria on his lower front teeth and two cavities. The bacteria was from not properly brushing those teeth and instruction on more attentive tooth brushing was given. And one of his cavities is on one of his baby teeth that aren't typically lost until age 11 or 12. So, an unexpected sealant is needed to protect that tooth from further decay and spreading to possibly other teeth. As well as, a sealant on the second tooth but it's not as badly decayed. An unexpected expense of over one hundred dollars.

Now. Mama's turn. I don't go to doctors much and currently only go for annuals because our insurance covers them so the dentist is the same. We haven't had dental insurance until 2017 and are allowed two cleanings a year. So, my first professional dental cleaning in, oh, so many years. It turns out that I have eight cavities and one is inside the tooth itself close to the nerve. My dentist wants to try to save the tooth with out sending me for a root canal. And the tooth that it is hasn't even been giving me any problems except when I floss and I just thought it was really sensitive. So, this mama unexpectedly is fixing to have several hundred dollars work done on one tooth plus cavity fillings. 

While cooking meals for my elderly mother for the next few days, my husband sends me a text starting that his employer has unexpectedly having a dust mask and hearing test today. He was made to shave his face. That may not seem like a lot to some people but he was not given an option and for the last two years it was not an issue. And his hearing test was done in a portable trailer that is not sound proof and he was failed after trains went by repeatedly all day, as they always do. The way his employer ddoesthings, this failing test for his hearing is a mark towards the employer and goes against company bonuses that every one at his plant recieves this year. That bonus is worth about one to two thousand dollars spread out up to five hundred dollars a quarter. 

Each of these aren't that much but each were very much unexpected. Coming home to a husband and daddy with a smooth face is rare for our boys to see. It was a bit embarrassing for my husband, too, especially when our boys run in and ask to see daddy without his beard.

So. What can we learn from the unexpected? We can learn that the unexpected leaves us trusting that God is very much in control of our lives. In Proverbs 21:1, we learn that
"The king's heart is in the hand of the LORD, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will." If God can control the whirlwind that destroyed the building that Job's children were in and can send a whale or great fish to swallow Jonah, how can I but only trust that he is in control of our lives too? We can not see the BIG picture of our path and journey but he does. Praise the Lord that he has us in his hands and no one and nothing can pluck us out.

Trust! That's what we learn from the unexpected!!

It is well with my soul. Is it well with yours?