Some of God's choicest blessings come in disguise, in much the same way as luck comes disguised as hard work. When they come incognito, it is easy to miss or even reject them out of hand. It didn't feel very blessed years ago when someone in the church became angry that she didn't receive the recognition she felt she deserved (her words, not mine), and began a campaign to divide and destroy that very nearly succeeded. The years I battled melancholy certainly didn't bear obvious marks of blessing, and those many times I've sat with people whose lives have been torn apart by divorce, drugs, or disease, not knowing what to say and feeling like I failed them--none of these times had little identification tags that said "blessing" on them.
Today I sat with three friends going through difficult times. I can't say as I had answers for them, but each situation was similar to things I've been through, so although I couldn't do anything to change their circumstances, I did have a measure of understanding, and was able to share with each one how I discovered God's hand in the dark hours of my life. I hope that just seeing someone who walked into that valley and came out the other side will be an encouragement to my friends. And those days, weeks, months, and even years when I doggedly trudged my way from one day to another; those times when God seemed to be uninterested in my pain, turned out to be the very tool he uses to comfort others in their time of need.
St. Paul said it best: "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles so that we may be able to comfort those experiencing any trouble with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For just as the sufferings of Christ overflow toward us, so also our comfort through Christ overflows to you. But if we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort that you experience in your patient endurance of the same sufferings that we also suffer."
God never wastes anything, and the difficulties that often seem to be interruptions and distractions often are the very means by which he reveals himself to us, and become tools in our hands and hearts by which we can bless and comfort others. It has often taken a long time for me to see the blessing in the buffetings, but I am thankful tonight that my trials have become God's trails to mercy and grace in the lives of my friends.
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