When God Flips The Script

What a whirlwind the past five days have been! First and foremost, PRAISE GOD! He has encouraged me, used me, corrected me, humbled me and brought so much joy that I can't contain it. What I thought would be a wedding weekend became something much more. It was a reminder that God sustains, redirects, and even lovingly corrects us when we least expect it.

Image by Isabella Fischer

My husband and I got to attend the wedding of our beautiful Great-Niece and her wonderful fiancé this past Friday. But I wasn't just a guest, I was also the photographer. We packed up gear, and essentials then left for Strasberg, PA Thursday afternoon. The intention was to check-in early and then make our way to the venue for the rehearsal. Normally, photographers don't attend rehearsals but well, our family is close. We kinda' do everything together. Unfortunately, I was still dealing with a messed up sleep schedule thanks to an illness from early May. By the time we reached the hotel, I’d been awake for 29 hours—thanks to a lingering sleep disruption from an illness earlier this month. Twenty years ago, I would have shrugged that off. At 64? Not so much.

Guess who fell asleep as soon as she laid down on the bed for "just a 10 minute catnap"?

This gal, that's who!

My hubby texted to say we wouldn't make it to rehearsal and let me sleep. I woke up 4 hours later and we went out to get food. One movie later, with a fully belly I went right back to sleep at 11pm and woke at 8 am. I felt like I could conquer the world!

We grabbed breakfast at the hotel, then stopped for snacks to sustain us until dinner. The venue is GORGEOUS! Which makes up for the "out in the middle of nowhere" location. Drumore Mill is a lovely place to host a wedding. I'm going to fast forward here, because I can not share images of the wedding with you. I'm in the process of editing them for the bride and groom who get to see them first.

By the end of it all I was ridiculously tired, incredibly sore, and insanely grateful that God got me through all of it. He helped me to push through the physical pain and keep me upright until I flopped onto the bed in our hotel room nearly 12 hours later. During the day, the timeline went astray and nothing I planned happened, but I went into this trusting that God would put me in the right place, to capture the right moments. What I didn't count on was how God used others to get me through it all.

My husband was a rock star that day, watching over me, keeping me in snacks, water and bringing lenses when I needed them. He said he was waiting for the moment when I collapsed, not because he didn't believe in me, but because he knows I push myself far too hard.

I was looking forward to seeing two people in particular at the wedding. The Pastor of my previous church and his wife. Because I had requested some needed distance in that friendship, I hoped we could still greet one another with Christian warmth. Instead, the interaction felt cold and awkward.

But then God gave me one of the sweetest gifts of the day: time with Katrina.

She won't mind if I mention her by name. Katrina is a force of nature. It's just how God made her. It can be intimidating if you don't take the time to get to know her, to see her heart. Before my church transition, I had told her one Sunday morning that I needed to apologize to her. We couldn't get into a lengthy conversation at that moment, but she immediately forgave me. She didn't judge or berate. She forgave. That stuck with me because that's how we're called to be as followers of Christ. She remained in my orbit after I left the church because as of last Friday, we became family. Her husband's nephew married my great-niece.

God weaves lives together for our good and HIS glory.

I got to talk to Katrina during the reception and shared my heart with her. Again, she's just so forgiving, and I love her to bits. Let me tell you a tiny bit about her. I say a tiny bit because her story is better told by her. But this amazing woman, after her son was called home to heaven, created a non-profit organization, Jacob's Journey, offering young adults life coaching, mentoring, social events, workshops, & everyday life skills. The link takes you to their Facebook page because the website is currently under construction. I’ll update this post when their site is officially launched.

This organization is needed more than anyone anticipated and it's growing steadily. My prayer is that the Lord will show me how I can serve Him through Jacob's Journey.

So God took a hard moment that didn't have the result I prayed it might have and turned my day into a multitude of moments that confirmed I'm where I'm supposed to be and I'm truly looking forward to where this leads.

Back to the exhaustion and physical wear on my body from the day. The ride from the venue to the hotel was horrible. I was dizzy, parched, on the verge of throwing up. At one point we had to pull over on a dirt road that we found by the grace of God. There are no streetlights on the tiny back roads of Pennsylvania. It was raining which made everything worse. I limped into the hotel room and began drinking as much water as I could. Hubby had gone out to a convenience store and grabbed food with lots of protein and carbs. Neither of us ate at the reception but that's a story for another time. The next morning, I couldn't walk when I woke up in the hotel room on Saturday morning. The night before was spent in pain from 12 hours of walking, standing, squatting, climbing up and down stairs and inclines on the property. Gradually, I was able to hobble my way to our SUV as we checked out and drove home.

©2026 Wisteria on Benson. Image created using Google Gemini.

It's now four days past the wedding and I'm finally feeling better. I'm moving and my legs don't feel as sore. Now that I'm healed, it's time to start working out. Remember what I said at the beginning of this post about God correcting me? Well that correction has to do with not getting myself into shape when I said I would. They got engaged 2 years ago, and I vowed to lose the weight and gain strength.

God was good in my weakness.
Good in my disappointment.
Good in my exhaustion.
And good enough to lovingly correct me where I needed it most.

So yes, I’m getting back on that recumbent bike today. Not out of guilt, but gratitude.

Peace,
Betty