THE BLESSING IN THE STORM

Do not rue any day or any time.Enjoy the silent beauty of the night; celebrate the darkest day;relish the snow,and the rain,and the bitter winds,and the fog that spills over the hills.

Let the lightning blaze through the sky;and the thunder roar. Let the hail fall hard and cold.For all of these things are part of your life, they are all working together for your good, and each day and every moment of your life is precious.Besides, you will later find that even the worst storms and darkest days held blessings of their own.

 
There is a blessing in the storm! The storm bespeak of any catastrophic occurrence that evidence a tragedy and misfortune. It is a situation that courses pains, humiliation, frustration, grieve and rejection. It is a situation that makes men to mock you. It makes men to question your integrity, righteousness, godliness, purity and sanity. It is a situation that makes you very unhappy and grossly uncomfortable. However as bad as it seems, there is a blessing in the storm.

When I was preparing to write this article, my mind was drawn to some catastrophic experiences of men which proved to be a blessing at the end. But because of space, I am going to share a few with you. I will begin with the catastrophe of June 1^st, 2009. Most of you are familiar with the story; it was aired in major news media. June 1^st, 2009 witnessed the mysterious disappearance of AIR FRANCE 447 flying from Brazil to Paris. All the crew and passengers on board left a location and were going to a destination which they never arrived. The air bus came down four hours out of Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) somewhere in a vast area of Atlantic Ocean with 216 passengers and 12 crew who never survived.

You may begin to wonder within you “how beneficial is this tragedy? What is the blessing in this tragedy”? Wait…….wait…….wait a minute! You will soon find out. The good news in this catastrophic occurrence was not the people that died in that plane crash, but the story of the couple who missed that plane because their taxi delayed. They were medical professor Claude Jaffiol and wife Amina. According to report, they tried desperately to get on the plane that was soon to disappear into the Atlantic Ocean. And when they arrived late, though they met the plane, they were not allowed joining the plane because it was already full.

To them this was a grievous disappointment, but to God it was a disappointment with a blessing which the other 228 who died in the plane would have wished to experience. There are times in our lives when the pains, minor setbacks and disappointment we experienced, make us feel God has abandoned us. But if we can calm ourselves and put all these in perspective, and patiently go through the experience, we will discover that it has saved us from more devastating realities. 

What shall we then say to all these? The Bible gave us a clew;  All these go a long way to show us that “All things work for the good of those who love God, and to them who are called according to his purpose”  That statement is so powerful that I will repeat it again. Type it out and paste it where you can always see it. Memorize it and repeat it every time of need and it will keep your heart in perfect peace.

“All things work for the good of those who love God, and to them who are called according to his purpose”  

Disappointment and failure, however severe and frustrating, are God’s dark pencil with which he rewrites biography of the bright destiny of men.

These couple tried everything they could to get into the plane that was destined to destroy all those who entered it. They even got angry when they were not allowed to enter this very plane. Little did they realize that this disappointment was meant for their good; a set up for their deliverance. How many times have we in one way or the other fight a situation, people and instructions that was meant to deliver us from destruction? How many times have we vehemently resisted all effort put together to make life better for us? Think about it! If you have not done it, you may probably have seen people who do.

Friend, there is a blessing in the storm! What do you do when the one you have sacrificed everything to make somebody suddenly turns around and betray your love and confidence? What do you do when those you rescue from death are now the ones plotting your death and digging your grave? What do you do when the one you decide to share your life with turn around and dump you after using you to accomplish his or her dreams? What do you do when the man who promises to give you a major contract falls down and die a day to signing the contract documents? What do you do when after your fasting, praying, paying your tithe, seed faith and offerings, your expectations were not realized as at when needed? What do you do when your present predicament puts you under a condition that makes even your closest friends and family relatives to doubt your integrity? These questions demand your thoughtful attention, because the way we see our situation will inform us on how to behave. It is not what happen to us that matters, but what we do with what happens to us.

Instead of whining and crying, or nagging and shifting blames, lift up your eyes, heart and hands to your creator and be grateful to him for making you worthy of going through this experience. For there is a blessing in the storm. Though you may not see it at the moment, but soon or later you will surely discover that there is a blessing in the storm.

There is another unique example I will like to share with you. That despicable experience happened to somebody very notable in the bible. The character I am looking at this moment is the Hebrew young man named Moses. His story quite reveals the truth that there is a blessing in the storm. The bible records that Moses in his youth decided to help his brothers as a deliverer, but he met with fierce rejection. This rejection produced a betrayal that led him to live as a fugitive for forty years when he was forced to learn the bitter lessons of life.

Nevertheless, he returned in honor as a deliverer and became the leader of those who rejected him. But for the previous rejection, he would not have probably received the proper grooming and spiritual endowment required to function effectively and efficiently in his deliverance ministry. When they rejected him and allowed him to live in a foreign land with sheep for forty years, he must felt very bad. In fact he must have felt greatly distressed and highly betrayed by the actions of those, whom he called his own, but little did he know that single act of rejection and betrayal will produce an opportunity for him to have a divine encounter with God and become highly empowered to carry out his divine assignment.

Lastly, I want to mention the story of a highly disciplined youth named Joseph Jacobs. The bible records that Joseph one the twelve sons of Jacob met with the greatest shock of his life when he was asked to check on his brothers who were tending their fathers flock in the field. He went to see how his brothers were fairing in the field. He went with love, but his brothers greeted him with wickedness. Instead of sharing brotherly love experience, they demonstrated to him how deeply they hated him. They striped him off of his beautiful coat of many colors, they threw him into a pit and finally sold him into slavery, and they celebrated his downfall and fabricated leis to cover up their evil act. They made him to suffer many things in the prison of the Egyptians for crime he knew nothing about. But God who knows how to use what the enemy meant for evil as a raw material with which he manufactures a blessing for those who bear his mark of excellence and approval.God remembered him and rescued him from the prison and made him second in command in entire land of Egypt. In the end he became the sustainer of those who planned to kill him so that his dreams will not materialize.

Whatever was done to bring great pain and affliction upon these two heroes became what God used to bring them to their enviable position of relevance. Indeed, all who will be great must face seasons of disappointment, rejection, frustration, pains, humiliation, persecution, confrontations, betrayal and some sort of misfortune, but in the end, the same things that brought them pain will be the same things that God will strategically use to give them gain. Your misfortunes are raw material in the hands of the Almighty and caring God to create a blissful reality of significance and relevance. 

Friend, there is a blessing in the storm. Do not fret your self when evil seem to prosper in the court of men. Do not become discourage when you fail to see the manifestation of your expectation. It may not come when you need it, but I assure you it will definitely come. You will see it! You will touch it and enjoy the blissfulness that your expectation carries. There is a God up there who cares so dearly for you because he loves you dearly, and will not be contented to see you suffer and be deprived for ever. After a while, he will inevitably make everything beautiful so that all that see it will know that this is the finger of God.

I do not know who you are, and I also do not know the peculiar problem that is confronting you right now, but I am convinced in the spirit that you will not live this site remaining the same way you came. You have just had an encounter with the positive power of transformation. Go in this strength and your life will never remain the same; your life will make more meaning even in the midst of despicable experience. Do not look at the size of your pain, problems, but look at a loving father who is not only able, but he is willing to give you a life of abundance and relevance. Tell him everything you are going through and trust him to make smile all through.

The worth of a man’s soul is not measured by his or her bank account or the volume of applause he evokes, but by his humanity, compassion and the courage to sail on with his dreams amidst the broken pieces of his or her life. Behind the cloud there is a silver lining. Failure and pains goes a long way to teach us that though we fail at one thing or several things, it does not bespeak that we are failures, but it is a pruning exercise to make us a better person at the end.

Friend, I want to conclude by saying that what ever happens to man, no matter how hurtful or unfair, is ultimately less important than what is about to happen in him or her. Every allowed pain, disappointment, rejection, betrayal, mockery catastrophe despite all efforts will work out at last for the good of all concerned. Sweet and blissful blessings are hidden in shells coated with the pills of pain and tragedy.

There is a blessing in the storm. After the storm will come sunshine of a blissful blessings that will forever silence the mouth of your mockers, confuse and frustrate all the expectations of your betrayers, stoppers, spoilers, and adversary. All those who thought you will not manifest will definitely see your manifestation in grand style.

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See you at the top!