Blessings in Disguise

a broken egg

"For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope," Jeremiah 29:11 (NKJV).

           Sometimes, we find ourselves caught up in a frustrating situation, and we forget that everything that comes into our lives is filtered through His hands.  I want to tell you about such a situation that happened to me this summer.

           My kitchen stove had so many broken parts, I didn't think it was a good idea to invest in the expensive repairs.  (Even the oven was broken--and I have to have an oven.)  I decided to buy a new stove and have it installed in plenty of time to bake a cake for my house guests who were arriving in a month.

           I found a stove and ordered it, with a suitable promised delivery and installation date.  The stove came into the warehouse on schedule, but due to miscommunication within the store, the installation did not take place as promised.  Many phone calls and much frustration later, the stove was delivered almost two weeks late.  I had to rearrange my schedule to accommodate the new delivery time and date.  My broken stove was uninstalled and taken out of the house.  But as the installation team brought the new one into the house, they discovered the new one was broken.  Imagine my dismay.

          We made a call to the store.  What could they do for me?  Order me a new one, they said, but I probably wouldn't have it for three more weeks.  I told the manager I'd come into the store in a few minutes and take care of it.  This paragraph cannot convey the amount of frustration I felt.  After the old one was reinstalled and I stood alone in the kitchen,  I said to the Lord, "What is happening here?"  I hadn't expected getting a new stove to become a "customer service" nightmare.  Then I went into the store, and politely cancelled the sale. 

          When I returned home, a message awaited me from the store.  Besides an apology, they offered me an upgrade to a much nicer stove that was on display on site, and promised to install it within two days, for the same price as the original sale.  Would that make me happy? Ah....it certainly did. 

As soon as I hung up the phone, I realized I should have trusted God all along.  I remembered other occasions as well when I should have trusted God instead of getting upset about a situation that was out of my control.  The situation had frustrated and disappointed me, but God turned it around for my good.  I should have trusted He would.  This time the store followed through and provided excellent service.  I got a beautiful new stove in time to bake a cake for my guests. 



"We know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose," Romans 8:28 (NKJV).

Cream cheese pound cake -- includes six broken eggs.

First cake in my new oven.