Blessings in Disguise

by Karen S. Roberts

Today’s devotion is one you probably can relate to.

What Is A Blessing in Disguise?

When you go through something difficult and can’t understand how God could let it happen, but then later you see that the situation brought about a blessing  –  That is a blessing in disguise.  

Why Is This Happening to Me?

Did you ever say or think these words?

I think all of us have from time to time.  When things are going wrong, we start to question.  If we’ve been walking with the Lord, praying, obeying Him, and seeking His will, we might struggle, not understanding the reasons why things seem to be falling apart instead of going smoothly or improving quickly.

Those are the times when we have to reach out in faith to trust that God is truly working things together for our good just as Romans 8:28 assures us.
     And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according          to his purpose.  KJV

I Got Fired!

I’ll never forget the day that I was called into the office of a new Christian camp administrator and was fired.  Under the previous administrator I had been promoted, and I had just accomplished some major successes.

I had recruited lots of volunteers for a successful annual fundraiser.

I had written an article on summer camp for a local publication, and they published it, giving acknowledgment to our camping program.

I had organized and run our first ever spring weekend staff training retreat for high schoolers who wanted to be on our junior staff team in the summer.  It was not only a training success and lots of fun, but also an encounter together with God.

I had been working long hours to get ready for the summer camp season, including developing some internet marketing for the camp.

So as I was being fired, I felt like I was in some unreal world.  I was losing my job, my housing at the camp, my health insurance, and the opportunity to minister to kids that summer.  I felt crushed.  The administrator didn’t give me explanations.  I walked in a daze back to our house next to the camp office and told my husband what had just happened.

It took about a week for me to get back to operating in faith instead of in panic.  The camp graciously gave me a few week’s pay and a month to vacate the premises so that I could look for work elsewhere.

God Had Reasons I Could Not See

To make a long story short, the Lord knew I was needed elsewhere, and quickly!

I ended up finding a new job in a field which gave me the opportunity to transform my career.  It turned out to be a career I loved, with better pay and much fewer hours of work.

The new job enabled us to move within five minutes of my aging parents.  Instead of seeing them once a month, I could see them almost every day.  I discovered that their health had greatly declined, which required assisting them a great deal.  Within four months of our moving there, my father passed away.  My mother needed a lot of emotional support as she grieved and also had to move into assisted living.  I was so thankful to be there with them.  I was with each of them when they passed on to be with Jesus.

This new situation also gave me the opportunity to develop this website and to devote more time to writing.  Working long camp hours had not given me much free time, so my desire to write had been pushed aside.  Soon I was able to publish my second book, a camp staff devotional called John Comes To Camp.

I realized that getting fired was God’s way of pushing me to be where I needed to be.  It was a blessing in disguise.  The experience was one of many in which I’ve had to trust God’s timing.  His timing is always perfect.

Here is Laura Story’s interpretation of a blessings in disguise.  She shows that one way that hardships can result in a blessing in disguise is the spiritual growth that comes to us as we trust God through the situation.

Leave a comment below to tell us about a blessing in disguise that you have experienced.