Zero Percent Chances

A few weeks ago, I was relaxing on the couch with my husband, a favorite past time for us. We both enjoy doing nothing sometimes after busy days working and taking care of our kids. So we were stretched out, I with my blanket and he with his i phone, ready for a couple of hours of pure nothing time, when I felt an old, familiar ache in my bones. It was a deep pain that settled in quickly. It felt like rain.

"Is it supposed to rain tonight?" I asked him.

"I don't know," he answered. We've had this exact conversation more times than I can count.

"Well, why don't you look at the weather on your fancy pants phone and see what it says?" I replied.

He laughed. "Okay."

Guess what it said? "Zero percent chance."

Hmm. That was very strange. I knew this rain ache. Yes, I'm too young for it, but it's pretty reliable nonetheless. All my hot spots were saying yes - the old injured place in my neck, my hands and feet, the herniated disc in my back. These bones do not lie. I've actually thought about becoming a weather forecaster, just to see how many times I am right when the professional ones are wrong. Ha! But I guess nothing is perfect.

The next morning, we got up early as usual, got ourselves and the children dressed and ready for church (always a challenging adventure) and loaded everyone up in the car after breakfast. And what did we find when we walked outside? Drizzle, slow but steady. Zero percent, huh? By the time we got to church, we needed umbrellas. Hmm. The next three days were filled with wet, soggy, endless rain. And all I could do was shake my head the whole time.

We hear about chances all the time. Here are a few examples. The average person's chance of having twins is about 3%. That same person's chance of getting a hole in one twice in one golf game are 1 in 9 million. About 2 out of 100 people live to be 100 years old. One out of every 3,357 die in a natural disaster. The average American man has a 44% chance of developing some kind of cancer in his lifetime. The average American woman has a 38% chance. But the experts say there are a whole bunch of ways to reduce those odds.

Is there something in your life that you feel (or have been told) there is a zero percent chance of happening? What is it today? What is that blind spot in your faith? At one time, it was a failing marriage for me. Everything that I could see told me that it was over. The divorce papers were signed, and my dream of reconciliation was dead. In the natural, there was no hope for us. BUT GOD had different plans, higher plans that I ever could have imagined. I trusted Him in spite of what I saw to be hopeless, and wonderful things happened. Did I get what I wanted so desperately at the time? No. But God took the pieces of a fractured life and put them back together in a way no one saw coming. My ex husband is back in relationship with God, and His wife now knows Him, too. Our unusual blended family, which includes our daughter, her natural parents, two step parents and now two half brothers, is a shining trophy of God's amazing grace. I thought there was a zero percent chance of reconciliation. I was wrong! It just looked different than I expected.

What are you asking Him for today? Do you doubt His ability to save your marriage or heal your body or save your lost family member? Do you ask with a faith that says, "If you can...."?  His answer to you today is, "What do you mean, 'If I can'? Anything is possible if a person believes." (Mark 9:23)  Throw the odds out the window, and give up your idea of what an answered prayer looks like. Trust Him to give you what is best. God has already proven that He loves you.  "He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all--how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?" (Romans 8:32)

If you've already trusted Him to save your soul, don't you think you can trust Him with your health or your marriage or your children? The answers are coming. Don't listen to the weather report. Leave the house with your umbrella every morning, because showers of blessing are on their way!

Father, thank You that you never say "maybe." Thank You that all Your promises for me are yes and amen in Christ. I trust You today for the impossible in my life, eagerly looking forward to the blessings and answers coming my way.

In God's unfailing love,
Amy