of blessings and curses...

 


Last night as I was falling asleep, I was pondering about how life seems to hand us lemons-- a lot! but it's how we deal with it that makes or breaks us, and in turn, can set the stage down the road for other events to follow.

Take the events leading up to the Crucifixion of Jesus. I was thinking that had Peter NOT denied Jesus three times, he would have more than likely been crucified also. Had the other disciples NOT all run away, they also would have been rounded up and killed as well. Instead, they lived on long enough to tell the story of Jesus and His wonderful message. I am not saying that we should all duck and cover when times go wrong, but in looking back, a curse became a blessing. I am thinking that Jesus recognized this as well, thus His forgiveness of his friends' actions and in naming Peter as the Head of His Church.

Blessings in disguise. Is this how you see Life also, or do you cuss and curse every bad turn?

When my husband lost his job, I also cussed and cursed. I also panicked. Big time! It took a couple of weeks of intense prayer for me to get over the anger and realize the blessings within what happened. We realized that his blood pressure was abnormally high, which we wouldn't have otherwise, thus saving his life. I realized just how much he came to dislike his driving route, the stress that he was put through...I could go on forever with all of the reasons why this "blessing" looked to be a "curse" instead. I also came to realize how selfish I was for wanting him to continue it anyway. Through discernment, I realized that with my health limitations, there are still things that I can do to contribute to the family, which I set out upon. In time, with patience, I have seen that God is in charge...but that I just needed to SURRENDER myself to Him! It was when I offered myself to Him that everything began to fall into place. Sure, we have our laundry list of ideas that we want to see happen, but if we just allow Him time, God can show us a way that we may never have dreamed of!





How often do we pray to God, then get mad because we feel He isn't listening? Maybe He is..and is just waiting for us to hand over the reins! Instead, we hang on, we tell Him how we want it done and on our timeline, too! So silly...in hindsight!

Give thanks to God always, in the good times and especially--maybe even more so...during the bad times. You will come to see that "when you cast all of your cares on Him, He cares for you!" (1Peter 5:7).