“For the Lord your God is he that
goeth with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you.”—Deuteronomy
20:4 (KJV)
Thanks so much for taking the time to read my blog. I appreciate
your support!
My last article
gave tips on how to relax for the holiday season. It’s hard to be calm when
life doesn’t go our way. Everyone seems to be on a mission to get cheerful.
What if happiness
isn’t part of the picture for a certain person? Perhaps she’s being taught
patience, or being strengthened for future success. Steven Furtick, head pastor
of Elevation Church, cites three ways obstacles can serve us. I have added my own commentary:
Protect
In the book
of Numbers in the Bible, we learn about the Israelites' 40-year journey to the
Promised Land. This is a trip that could have taken five days.
The former
slaves were probably held back for various reasons. We know they had been
disobedient. They were also unprepared
to displace the warrior-like residents. In other words, God was shielding
them.
Prepare
This NPR article
tells the story of Operation Tiger,
in April of 1944. It was the disastrous “dress rehearsal” for D-Day (Operation
Overlord). The campaign was so horrifying; it wasn’t declassified until some
months later.
This
military exercise took place on the beaches of Southwest England. There were no
Germans on land, but a patrol fleet unexpectedly showed up. Chaos ensued. About
700 allied men were stranded in the water. Hundreds were killed due to a lack
of communication, too. Some British troops even shot at American soldiers as
they accessed the beaches.
On June 6,
1944, the Allied Forces stormed the beaches of Normandy, France. This was the real D-Day. The stakes were much higher.
The ambitious objective was to stop Nazi aggression at the source: the European
continent. It worked:
- Rescue tactics and communication systems had been upgraded.
- Misinformation rose to a new level. U. S. General George S. Patton led an exercise to convince the Germans that the target area was Calais, not the Normandy beaches.
I call that preparation!
Position
I graduated
from college with a Bachelor of Arts in Humanities with an English emphasis. I
almost became an English/History teacher. However, I did not follow through
with the certification. That’s because I had a traumatic internship. Nobody was
happy, and I was poorly trained. I chose to graduate without the teaching
credentials.
I have since
discovered that I may have been able to repeat that internship. I wasn’t
offered that option at the time. Looking back, I am very grateful I didn’t
become a teacher. I was actually being positioned to meet my husband and live a completely different
life.
There would
have been an awful, long-term domino effect of horrible consequences if I had
stuck with my original plan. They would have affected my health and my future
family. (I wouldn’t have my current husband or kids.) In fact, I might even
have died without the crucial information and resources I’ve found along my
unexpected path.
My Conclusion
Cheer up.
Today’s crisis could be keeping you from—or preparing you for—a bigger problem.
Even better, it could be positioning you for a huge, future victory.
Related Posts
How have past “failures” actually
helped you?
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