What do you do when it seems as if God isn’t keeping his promises or when circumstances aren’t lining up with what you believed would happen? 

Last week I celebrated my birthday. As I talked to my dad, we discussed my arrival into this world. I interrupted a trip with their friends, arriving four to six weeks ahead of schedule. The fall baby arrived in the summer. Hmmm, is that where my desire to quickly get things done started? But I digress. 

The day I was born the doctors weren’t optimistic about my chance of survival. As my dad drove home from the hospital, he didn’t hold back in expressing his anger and disappointment to God.  As he approached home, he noticed some lights on outside houses in their small community. One family had a son recently diagnosed with diabetes, another family had a child struck by a car, and something else happened with the third family. He sensed God say, “Look, all these other people have had difficulties in their life. What makes you think you’re any different? Don’t worry. Your daughter is going to be okay.”

Sometime before my dad returned to the hospital my mom was reading a daily devotional. As she read it, she too sensed I would be okay. Arriving at the hospital the next day, my mom said, “Jennifer’s going to be fine.”  My dad’s reply that he knew didn’t convince my mom until they both shared how God had spoken to each of them. After that, as I heard growing up,  “We knew you’d be fine.”

The story wasn’t new to me, but what my dad shared with me last week reminded me of how I need to respond to the questions I posed earlier. It encouraged me how to live by faith. He said it was really touch and go for a while, but then he said, “But it really wasn’t. We knew God said you’d be okay.” They chose to believe what God said over the uncertainty of the circumstances.

Those words really encourage me. It reminded me that even in the middle of chaos and uncertainty, we can trust God. He is faithful to do what He says. The next time I’m tempted to doubt if God will do what He says, I am going to look at myself. The doctors weren’t sure I’d make it to my first birthday, but here I am. But even greater than that, I can look into God’s word and remind myself He always does what He says. Just like my parents, I can believe what He says over what appears to be going on. 

So, what do you do when things seem uncertain or not according to what God said?