A Blessing by Design

Thank you for visiting today. If you are studying Sheila Walsh’s The Shelter of God’s Promises with us, we are in Chapter 4 this week “Confidence…I Can’t See God’s Plan in this Pain.”

A blessing in disguise.

Are you familiar with this term? It means something that seems bad now or is unwanted may actually turn out to be a good thing.

I’ve had it said to me before, and I’ve said it to others. But as I read this chapter, every time I thought of someone saying, “Maybe it’s a blessing in disguise,” I immediately thought “And maybe it’s not.”

Now, before you think I’m kind of a downer today, hear me out.

Romans 8:28 says…

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. (NLT)

I don’t believe in coincidence or luck. I believe God has a plan and is at work in each of our lives. No matter what I’m going through and how many mistakes I’ve made, God can and will bring good from them.

To me, a blessing in disguise feels like it’s left up to chance. Maybe it will be a blessing, or maybe it won’t. Maybe it’s just a lousy situation that has no purpose.

But it’s not without purpose. God leaves nothing to chance. God never says, “Maybe something good can come out of that, but maybe not.” God knows.

He knows the plan and He knows if I’m going to mess it up by trying to do it my way. And if when I do, He knows how to bring something good from it anyway.

“In God’s hands, even the things that have broken us can be used by Him to make us whole again. There are no accidents in God’s kingdom.” –Sheila Walsh, The Shelter of God’s Promises

There is a confidence that comes from knowing God is in charge. I know that if He allows it in my life, then He will get me through it.

That doesn’t mean it will be easy or without pain. And it doesn’t mean it will be something I want to happen (or not happen). What it means is that God will walk me through it—alongside of me, every step of the way.

Through it, He’s working on me, drawing me closer to Him in ways that can only happen when I’m broken. He’s preparing me for His future plans, and teaching me to see His work in everything.

One of the sections in this chapter is titled “Resting in the Confident Assurance that God is in Control.” I underlined it and added asterisks.

I’m using it as a definition of trust.

To trust God is to rest in the confident assurance that God is in control. (Sheila Walsh)

Sometimes the good that God brings out of my circumstances affects someone else, and I might never know about it. But I know that even when I don’t see it, God is in control.

He is at work in each of our lives, and if He allows me to be a part of it by working through me—well, that sounds like a blessing to me. But it’s not a blessing by chance or in disguise. It’s a blessing by the Lord’s grand design.

In Christ,

Laura

Linking up with Sharing His Beauty, On Your Heart Tuesday, Just Write, Soli Deo Gloria, Living Well Wednesdays, Word Filled Wednesday, Unwrapping His Promises, God-Bumps & God-Incidences, and Walk with Him Wednesdays.