Well, its Wednesday

Our Frustrations= God's Blessings

As I was preparing to write this, I got a text from an old friend who asked me to call him when I got the chance. My friend picked up and moved to Indiana about 2 years ago- in search of more for himself. He texted me and asked for some advice. I called, and some 45 minutes later, I am understanding that God works in purposeful, even though we don't understand it, ways. I think mysterious ways too, but more so direct and intentional.

My friend asked how I was and I said- you want the long or short version- and he said let me hear the long because I am just really not wanting to focus on my life issues right now. So, in a 5 minutes spiel, I told him of the past events for the last 4 months. And then he said, I can totally understand. My sweet friend had just had his world rocked by his girlfriend breaking up with him- via text message- last night. He had been ring shopping; they dated for a year and a half. He could have called anyone in Georgia, but he chose to call me. Now you explain that. I know it is because God used my story to help my friend.

I talked to him about everything that I have learned on my own, telling him nothing anyone says is going to help, how sucky it is going to be, and that the only thing that you can rely on is Scripture. I even shared some of the verses God has shown me through all of this- and he said you don't know how much this helps. I shared Ephesians 3:30, Philippians 1:6, and Jeremiah 29:11-14. My friend had recently quit his big time railroad job because he wasnt happy, and waited 6 or 7 months to look for a new job. He just started managing a pizza place, and then the breakup happened last night. He really has nothing in Indiana. A few friends, maybe you can count them on one hand, no family, and no career.

So what do you think I told him to do? Pack it up and move it home. I told him there was no reason for him to stay there and the only way to get over the breakup was to get away from it, because being around it and all the things that remind you of it, don't help (from experience). (I did tell him before he left that he had to stop by the Vera Bradley outlet in Ft. Wayne and pick me up a few things!) And he said, after a good chuckle, because he knows my Vera request was real, he said, I just needed someone to tell me that. I needed to hear it from someone, and I am so glad you called me.

Friends, (readers), God is real. I havent talked to this friend in a LONG time- and God made him call me, of all his friends at home- because he wanted someone to be real with him. The frustration of my breakup and all my mishaps of life lately, were turned around into a blessing for someone else. All my disappointments and struggles and tears, helped someone else who is going through the same thing. I am not taking any credit for talking my friend down, it is only God who did that. I just got to be a witness.

Think about all your messups, all of the things in your life that have truly exasperated you, all the things that you were like "Really God?" or "Are you kidding me? Not now". Think about all the things you cried over. Or maybe even shook your fist at. Maybe it is frustrations with your family. A fight with a long time friend. Not getting what you wanted, like getting pregnant or losing a baby. It might be making a big ol' mess out of something that was so simple. It could be giving up everything to start a new life, only to have nothing seem to pan out. It might be the death of someone too soon, or a life altering event. Divorce. Moving. Failing a big academic test. Whatever your frustrations are, I can tell you that God, if we allow him to, uses the things that set us off, and turns it around for a blessing for someone else. We may never see these blessings with our own eyes, or hear about it with our own ears, generations later may reap the benefit of our struggles- BUT God is still at work. Even when it feels like we are in the middle of a tornado and the world is spinning by us, God still has his hand in our lives.

Take time today to thank God for the frustrations in your life that have drawn you closer to him, and use your story to bless others.