What are the chances?

My husband found a lottery ticket yesterday for the big jackpot - which was up to $101 million.  Someone spent $5 for 5 chances to win the lottery & then lost the ticket.  I just went online to check the numbers (just in case) and found that not one single number matched from yesterday's drawing - out of 25 numbers, not one single number matched.  What are the chances of that?  I know someone can actually figure out the chances and give me some stats, but I'm not interested in stats.  Since I never play the lottery (because I know instinctively that the chances are low to ever win any substantial amount of money) I would have guessed that the chances were high to at least have one of the numbers match, but I was wrong.

Isn't life like that sometimes too?  We have a situation come up and we treat it kind of like the lottery.  We'll try to figure out some solutions to the problem and just guess that because we tried - it will somehow work out.  I took my sick child to the doctor yesterday and I guessed that she was sick enough to be prescribed an antibiotic.  She would take it and get better - problem solved.  Lottery won.  I was wrong.  No antibiotic - just go home, take some medicine & see what happens.  Lottery Lost.  She's still sick today and I'm not sure what to do now.  Ride it out or call the doctor again?  I feel like I should flip a coin to figure it out.  That would at least give me a 50% chance of getting it right.

So how do we know what to do?  There is no manual that I can flip through to figure it out.  That would be nice.  I'd flip to February 17, 2011 and look under Sarah's name and there it says - "today Sarah is sick, she needs antibiotics, call the doctor & he will call in a prescription for you."  Wonderful - I'll do that.  Lottery won!  Too bad - I lost that manual (have you seen it anywhere?)  So I'm left to make a decision with just my mother's intuition (which I would say has about a 60% chance of being right.)

I'm glad that I've learned that life is not a lottery & that I have a source to go to for answers and direction.  I can pray and ask God for direction & wisdom.  I don't just have to guess & wonder about the situations in my life.  My favorite verse is Prov. 3:5&6 - "Trust in God with all your heart and do not depend on your own logic. When you need to know the way, ask Him and He will direct you."  (This is in my own words)  So instead of playing the lottery with my life - I go to the source of life, God himself, and ask Him to help me.  Sometimes it takes longer than I'd like to get the directions, but He has never failed me yet.  So, what are the chances that God will come through for me?  100% - I like those odds!  :)