Surprise Me, God

When Pastor asked the congregation who liked surprises, I leaned over to my neighbor and whispered, "Are you kidding?  Surprises cost money!"  She was like-minded and added, "Surprise!  Your refrigerator broke on vacation and all your food spoiled!"  He then explained that insurance companies have conditioned us to believe that surprises are bad - unwelcome "Acts of God," such as tornadoes, fires, and floods.

Matthew's round blue eyes searched mine from behind his rounder, bluer Soothie pacifier.  Aren't Nathan and I God's best surprise ever? he seemed to ask.  I was immediately convicted. "Yes, you are," I whispered, and kissed the top of his warm baby head.

 

Pastor taught us today that God is a God of surprise, not God of the boring.  This is a lifelong lesson for us.  Steve and I continually ask each other when our lives will become "normal," because absolutely nothing about our lives seems to work out the way we think it "should."  God is always surprising us!

Because I cannot possibly recount all of His surprises, I'll just tell you about the biggest one of all.  You guessed it: the day we learned we were pregnant with twins.  The following is an excerpt from the scrapbook I created for the boys while I was pregnant:

November 3, 2008

"The Most Shocking Day of Our Lives"

You two have never known what it's like to not have a twin.  Before this day, the idea of being twins' parents had never crossed our minds!

We had a doctor's appointment in the morning.  It was supposed to be short and quick, so your dad and I both planned to go back to work afterward.  We expected the doctor to say, "Congratulations, you're pregnant," and we'd go back to work like normal.

On the ultrasound screen, we saw lots of black and white fuzzy stuff, but in the middle were two black ovals, each with a fuzzy, blinking center.  Having never been pregnant before, we didn't know that we were looking at TWO six-week-old embryos.  "It looks like there are two in there," the doctor said calmly.

I gasped and clapped my hand over my mouth in shock!  Your dad was silent, holding my hand and staring intently at the screen.  After years of waiting and praying, believing for one baby, it seemed unimaginable that God would bless us with two babies at once.  Your dad's sense of humor kicked in (and thank goodness!  I couldn't speak because I was crying tears of joy!) and he asked, "Are there any more?"

As expected, the appointment was quick and we were done, but neither of us wanted to go back to work.  I was so excited and disoriented that I got into your dad's car instead of mine.  In the parking lot, we laughed and hugged and kissed some more.  We prayed together in the car, thanking God for two miracles growing in my belly.  

Pastor has challenged the church to pray, "Surprise me, God," every day for 30 days.  I'm up for it.  He's proven himself faithful to us time and time again, "giving us more than we could ever ask or imagine" (Ephesians 3:20).  I wonder what kind of surprises he has in store for us this month?

(Stop snickering!  I know some of you out there are thinking I'll get another set of twins out of this!)

I'll let you know how it goes.