Five Minute Friday - Unusual

One word. Five minutes to write about it. This is the idea behind Five Minute Friday and this is today's free-writing post.

unusual circumstances

Time changes every man. Unusual circumstances change them in unusual ways. ~Bryant Gumbel

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I'm sad to say that it's been so long since I contributed something for FMF that it's unusual for me to do so. And I waffled over whether to write something or not, so I'm actually sharing on Saturday instead of Friday. This entire weekend is not going as I'd expected anyway, thanks to the winter storm bearing down on much of the midwest and south, and the unusually large amount of snow coming our way. Or so we're told. 

I was planning to attend a Sweet Adelines regional event in Louisville this weekend, but that area is exactly where some of the worst of the winter storm is expected to hit. So our chorus pulled out due to travel concerns and very shortly after that the region cancelled the entire event. We're all disappointed, but we cancelled our hotel reservations and started adjusting. I let our church worship director know I'd be here Sunday morning after all, and she put me on worship team. And now I'm waiting to hear whether we'll even have the church service. 

My husband and I went grocery shopping last night and weren't greatly surprised to find many of the shelves all but empty. Hardly any fresh produce at all, hardly any meat, milk and eggs and bread not quite as scarce but far less than is usual available. Fortunately, what was on our shopping list in those departments was more in the way of "want" than "need" but we adjusted our menu plan for the weekend since there were no peppers or onions! We joked about how surprised we were that there was so much toilet paper left on the shelf!

Everything in life is unusual until you become accustomed to it. ~L. Frank Baum

How do we handle it when faced with unusual or unexpected circumstances? A lot of it comes down to personality. Those who need to feel a sense of control and to know what's next may be rattled and anxious when something is out of the ordinary. Those who are less inclined to have detailed plans and are okay with figuring it out as they go might roll with the changes more readily. For the most part, I'm in the "roll with the changes" crowd, and tend to see the bright side of things too, but I still get upset when things don't go as planned.

Every start on an untrodden path is a venture which only in unusual circumstances looks sensible and likely to succeed. ~Albert Schweitzer

Whatever the unusual circustances we find ourselves in, we can be confident that God is not surprised or dismayed by what we were unprepared for. If we learn to trust him and turn to him in every situation, we'll find that he IS preparing our hearts and will provide what we need.

But blessed is the one who trusts in the LORD,

whose confidence is in him.

They will be like a tree planted by the water

that sends out its roots by the stream.

It does not fear when heat comes;

its leaves are always green.

It has no worries in a year of drought

and never fails to bear fruit.

~Jeremiah 17:7-8~

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This post is linked at Five Minute Friday for the word prompt "Unusual" 

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