God has done such good things for me that I fully expected to walk into that transmission shop yesterday and the man tell me I owed nothing.

Maybe that’s what faith is: the substance of things hoped for. I sure was hoping.

I’ve learned in the past few years though the difference between earthly hopes and eternal Hope and that sometimes on this earth, our unmet hopes make us lean harder into eternal Hope. When things don’t go our way or we suffer consequences of someone else’s choices or simply consequences of living in a fallen world. When our prayers aren’t answered how we want, no matter how we believe for it. When flukey things happen and lead to failed transmissions…

With faith being the substance of things hoped for, who would think that unmet hopes could lead to larger faith, but that’s what’s happened over the last few years.

I’ve been able to see how my unanswered prayers and unmet hopes were for my good. How the disappointment was small compared to the vast kindness of God. How my finite view of my little world is just a dot on the screen God sees and how limited is my understanding compared to His knowledge of where my life fits into a much bigger picture.

I’ve seen Him go before me providing in ways that could only be Him. I’ve felt Him walk beside me in times when I had to use the stuff He made in me. And I’ve known His voice behind me in times when I had to listen for His guidance (Isaiah 30:21).

When I got past the transmission-induced tears a few weeks ago, I remembered all that, so I was not going to be surprised at all if God sent an angel to pay for Cooper’s transmission. I wanted that outcome. I wanted to tell the world about the miracle God did for my family at Christmas time.

Well, I don’t have that miracle story. God didn’t choose to work that way this time. Sometimes He just doesn’t. Sometimes the greater good is walking through the debt or the hard or the loss. Seeing Him provide in ordinary ways, like your education or the job that provides for your family, or through the kindness of others, like some cash in a Christmas card or discounted rent for the month of December.

My transmission issue is a good picture of life on earth. Some flukey thing that rarely happens could happen out of nowhere. It may be a small, easy fix or it may cost you a lot. Your life may be inconvenienced for a time. You may have to make decisions about fixing the problem or moving on. You may hope for one outcome and find yourself in another.

Just know that the God of Hope is never surprised. He is not shaken. He’s not caught off-guard. He may choose to work quickly in a miraculous way, or He may move slower than you’d ever want in order to produce good stuff in you (Romans 5:3-5). He absolutely has the power to stop the bad or the flukey from happening, but sometimes we experience it anyway just because we haven’t yet reached Heaven.

Life on earth is hard. Staying hopeful is hard. Let the hard push you closer to Him. Lean into eternal Hope. Expect the miraculous but, be willing – if He so chooses – to let the miracle happen IN you if not for you.