WHEN GOD DOES THE UNEXPECTED

Sunrise over southern Texas near the Mexican border.

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord.” 

Isaiah 55:8

It snowed in southern Texas and in Mexico last week!  Heavy, wet flakes that blanketed cars and yards. It was cold, windy and generally miserable outside. But it was pretty.

Cold weather is very hard for the people in Mexico who have no furnaces in their homes. Most people have very little insulation in their walls and most have sheet metal roofs on bare rafters. The only way to stay warm is for them to stay inside or for the children to wrap up in blankets and huddle together in bed.

The snow was unexpected. In fact the last time it snowed here was December 2004 when six inches fell in Brownsville, Texas on Christmas Day. People still wear T shirts commemorating that occasion.  

Snow stuck on metal surfaces and on the grass.

By noon all the snow was gone, leaving a fine drizzle in it’s place. The only proof we had of the event were pictures hurriedly taken out in the cold.

The snow called to mind a recent sermon at the church in Nuevo Progreso.  Brother Fernando reminded us that God’s ways are not our ways, His thoughts are not our thoughts, and He is past our understanding. We sometimes question why certain things happen or why He allows sickness, trouble or grief in the lives of faithful Christians. The example was given of John the Baptist who was a great man of God. In his time of trouble in prison, he was not rescued and set free by some miracle, but God allowed him to be beheaded.   God did not do what we would have expected.

God brings beautiful sunrises and He also brings the snow, and He surprises us with His actions. But we know without doubt that He wants what is best for us and for our future. We must always put our trust in Him.

“Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.” 

Proverbs 3:5