I have come to realize that God’s richest blessings are often not packaged in my plans.
The Bible is full of examples of this truth. From Abraham to Joseph, from Ruth to Elizabeth, incredible treasures were excavated from the most unlikely of circumstances. And when we take the time to think about it, no doubt most of us could add an episode or two from our own life to the record. I certainly can!
I became a believer, not in a church as a result of an altar call, but on an ordinary weeknight on the streets of East Lansing, Michigan and from a place of confusion and disillusionment with life. From that barren wilderness the Lord presented me with the greatest and most incredible gift of my life. And that was just the glorious introduction to His surprising ways.
Remembering His gifts often come in strange packages brings me tremendous peace in the midst of the desperation, frustration and fear that causes me to press and stress trying to make things turn out the way I want them to or think they “ought” to. And it is a blessing of consolation and hope when they don’t.
God’s faithfulness is a certainty, even though the way He chooses to display it is often a mystery. In the words of Asaph the psalmist, “Your path led through the sea, your way through the mighty waters, though your footprints were not seen” (Psalm 77:19).
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