I listen to a lot of podcasts. Sometimes with athletes, sometimes authors, sometimes celebrities. (And yes, sometimes professional wrestlers.)

I just love hearing people share their stories. The various paths to success and unexpected detours people face along the way that lead them to their current lot in life fascinate me.

As I listen to more and more of these interviews, there’s one phrase I hear repeated over and over again by the people telling their story- 6 words that I think more of us should remember when life throws us a curveball:

“If you would have told me…”

On just about every interview I listen to the subject will inevitably say something like, “If you would have told me I would have ended up where I am today, I never would have believed you.”

Life is confusing.

We’ve all wound up at places we didn’t expect to be at various points in our lives.

We come up with a plan to get to where we want to be. We work toward our dreams. Our plans blow up in our face.

The way we just know our lives should go never seems to pan out.

Instead we end up at jobs we never expected, married to people we didn’t predict, friends with folks we never thought we’d meet.

Sometimes the roads to these points are rocky. We beg God to just tell us what the end game will be.

But He doesn’t. Want to know why?

If God were to tell you what He had store for your life, you wouldn’t believe it.

Your wildest dreams are boring compared to God’s imagination for your life.

The place where you’ll wind up in the future is beyond what your brain can comprehend right now.

You don’t know what your “If you would have told me…” moment will look like. You may in fact have quite a few of these moments along the way.

When you’re stuck in the moments in between, when nothing makes sense in life, just hold on. Remember you’re not at the end of the story.

Have faith in the power of God to redeem the moments that don’t make sense yet.

While you’re waiting, say yes to unexpected opportunities. The times you expect to be awful often turn out to be awesome.

Keep pressing on until you get to your “If you would have told me…” moment. Have faith in the God who authors those 6 words and who illustrates every nonsensical moment into a perfect picture.

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28)

Have you ever had a “If you would have told me…” moment? How do you stay faithful when life doesn’t make sense?