How Is God Good to You in Unexpected Circumstances?

How is God good to you in unexpected circumstances? Did you know there is one specific gift He gives that is unbelievable and something we all need? While Abby McDonald faced an unexpected medical emergency with her child, she received something from the Lord that sustained and strengthened her. After all, the goodness of God is all around, even when life takes an unpredictable turn.

Abby McDonald is our cherished guest today with words of encouragement and pointing us to the one who has the power to help in ways we never dreamed possible. Abby has a way of encouraging others to find the hope of Christ in a messy life.

How is God Good to You in Unexpected Circumstances?

Written by Abby McDonald

Summer camping trips with our family and friends always bring fun, laughter, and plenty of adventure. But this adventure wasn’t one I planned or had any desire to walk through. It was more like a nightmare. Yet even in the middle of the chaos and unexpected circumstances, God was good.

My boys had left about thirty minutes before breakfast to bike the campground perimeter with some friends. I watched our four-year-old daughter while my husband made pancakes and was about to head inside the camper when I heard a loud scream. My son Gabe was running toward me, crying and holding his face, covered with blood. Although he still had on his helmet, it did not provide full protection from the tree he face-planted after hitting it with his bike.

While I tried to maintain my composure, my husband cleaned him up. After drying up the blood, the cuts and scrapes didn’t look nearly as bad and we thought they were just surface wounds. The abrasions were extensive, but not deep, so we ate breakfast and then told our son to rest.

But before long, signs of a possible concussion emerged. Something was off, and I knew it. Within a couple of hours, I was riding in the back of an ambulance with my nine-year-old after the ER doctor recommended an immediate transfer to the Children’s Hospital in Pittsburgh, accompanied by an overnight evaluation. A CT scan had revealed several skull fractures, along with air on his brain. The latter was known to cause seizures in some patients.

Why “Jesus, Help” Is a Perfect Prayer

If something traumatic happens, I usually have enough mental clarity to do the next thing. I go into autopilot mode until I’m in a safe place and then crash. But when my kids suffer, I sometimes freeze. At least mentally. Although my body is still moving, everything in me wants to take away their pain, fear, and trauma and put myself in their place. But I know I can’t. And this knowledge brings me to my knees.

Despite my complete inability to take away my son’s pain, one thing surprised me as I sat in the hospital that night with the hum of nurses and doctors flurrying around me. I had peace. God’s goodness came to me right there in our unexpected circumstances and in a way, I never would’ve imagined. Although a seizure in the middle of the night was a real possibility, I kept going back to two singular words: Jesus, help.

I couldn’t summon a long prayer or a string of verses, but I didn’t need them. Those two singular words became a lifeline, and they sustained me. And throughout the night, His help came.

It came through messages and texts from friends telling me that my son was covered in prayer. It arrived through a nurse who knew how to answer an anxious boy’s endless stream of questions. Each act was evidence of God’s goodness and a little ray of light in the darkness of the hospital room. I clung to it, and I knew He was there with me.

His Peace is a Gift God Gives, Not a Trophy We Must Strive to Receive

If you’re anything like me, you may sometimes think God’s peace is something you have to earn or strive to receive. We live in a world where anxiety is becoming more and more common, and it doesn’t seem like peace is a natural state of being.

But if we look at scripture, Jesus doesn’t describe his peace as a trophy we have to earn. It is a gift He gives us as his children, and His perfect peace is part of who He is.

Did you notice the distinction Jesus makes? He doesn’t give as the world gives. The world tells us we’ll have peace after we achieve perfect circumstances, have a never-ending list of material possessions, or take that dream vacation. But the peace Jesus gives doesn’t come with a to-do list; it is the result of one singular thing—His presence.

When we spend time in the presence of God, either through worship, studying his Word, or talking to him in prayer, we are making an investment. Like any relationship, it grows as we foster it. Although we may not see the reward right there in the moment, those minutes and hours we spent with him will reap huge rewards later. In the most unexpected crisis, his peace can cover our hearts because of our commitment.

Jesus follows his promise of peace with a command: Do not be afraid. Why? Because He knows this world is full of opportunities to fear. Being fully God and fully human,  the Lord knows it is natural for us to be afraid, yet wants us to know he has overcome every reason the enemy tells us we need to fear.

His command is not a rebuke, but an assurance. He will be with us in whatever situation we face. His goodness will follow us into the unknown and our unexpected circumstances.

Stability in His Presence

By the grace of God, Gabe and I only had to spend one night in the hospital. His condition had improved the next morning and no seizures occurred during the night. Although the skull fractures would take time to heal, they would not require surgery.

As soon as the nurse told Gabe that he could eat and move around the room, he was right next to me, snuggling me on the sofa bed as we looked at the cafeteria menu. And I realized something. Even though I felt helpless to do anything for my son, my presence had been enough, and being there provided the comfort and stability he needed.

God’s presence provides the same miracle for us. Even though our situation may not change, his peace permeates the places in our souls that long for a stable resting place. And by spending time with him today, we’re laying the foundation for the truth we’ll need to cling to later.

Let’s go there today. Each day is worth, as King David said, “more than thousands elsewhere.” (Psalm 84:10)

Will you please share how you have experienced God’s goodness?

Abby McDonald’s passion is to help women find the hope of Christ in the middle of life’s messes. She is the author of Shift: Changing Our Focus to See the Presence of God, and a writer for Proverbs 31 Ministries.  Her work has also been featured on (in)Courage, Crosswalk, and more. Connect with her at abbymcdonald.org.

Connect with Abby on Instagram and Facebook.

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