Last Saturday, in Blinded to Blessing, we discussed how easy it is to overlook blessings in the face of new trials.
Apparently I didn’t learn my lesson….
After the incidents of that Monday, the week produced multiple other stressors … Discouraging nursing home tours, inconclusive assessments, another coyote encounter (see Coyotes Are Coming!), bad test results … but the pinnacle most definitely was finding the flood in the basement …
Where there blessings hiding in all those trials?
Hum. Let me think … Maybe? But I couldn’t remember them … And I proceeded to fall into a ball of stress, with tears flowing at the drop of a hat, upset stomach, canker sores, difficulties making decisions, everything.
Meanwhile, God was busy.
Take the flood in the basement for example.
I rarely go down there, and since I had company helping me paint an upstairs room all day, going down to the basement was the last thing I intended to do. One of my helpers, however, handed me a couple of boxes containing jigsaw puzzles I had lent to her. I thought maybe I had a couple more she might like to do, so before she left, I zipped down to the basement closet where the puzzles are housed to check. While there, a drop of water fell on my head, and when I looked down, I realized my feet were wet …
Meanwhile, my friends were still there, and the one who loves puzzles has a lot of experience in risk management. It wasn’t long before they had helped me rip up the carpet, set up a fan, instructed me to call my insurance, and stayed with me until things temporarily settled down …
Wait. Why would THAT particular friend have chosen THAT particular day to return the puzzles? Why not one of the numerous other times I had seen her the week before? And how could it have been a “coincidence” that she was knew exactly what I needed to do? It was like God was “showing” me the leak, before it got too bad, and sending me the help I needed to prevent further problems!
The next morning was Sunday morning. I was supposed to go to a meeting before church, but all I wanted to do was curl up in a ball and cry. Nonetheless, I dutifully went to the meeting, fully intended on going back home before church started. God has other ideas. He sent me people who just “happened” to work in water restoration! They told me exactly what I needed to do! And then before I could slip out the door, some other people stopped me. Anyone surprised that the worship service and the sermon were both exactly what I needed to hear?
Nonetheless, all I wanted to do after church was to slip out unseen, go home and cocoon.
God had other ideas. I couldn’t get anywhere near the door. So many people came up to me to talk with me, to pray with me, to encourage me! And by the time I finally did get home, the urge to cocoon had passed.
Please understand, God doesn’t send us problems. Rather, His plans for us are all good: “’For I know the plans I have for you,’ says the Lord. ‘They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.’” (Jeremiah 29:11 NLT).
Nonetheless, He does sometimes allow them. Remember Job? Yet even during these times, He promises to work good out of our bad situations: “And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.” (Romans 8:28 NLT)
During those moments when trials are allowed, He surrounds us with all the support we need, He sends us solutions, He even shows us the problems before they get too bad. Has He not promised, “When you go through deep waters, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown. When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up; the flames will not consume you.” (Isaiah 43:2 NLT).
Whatever problems you’ve been assaulted with, may I encourage you to sit back and seek out the blessings God is sending your way? How has He prepared you so it isn’t as bad as it could be? What kind of support has He sent to you? What kind of encouragement? Our job is to seek out what God is busy doing, to firmly believe that God is working something good out of our bad situation!
In His love,
Lyn
Lynona Gordon Chaffart
Author, Moderator, Acting Director, Answers2Prayer Ministries
