ALL THINGS WORK OUT FOR GOOD ONE DAY AT A TIME 4

Have you ever been bumped off from a flight? I have. And I can assure you it’s not a very pleasant experience. Specially if you have a connecting flight to catch.

So what do you do when you’re caught in a situation like this?

Fret, whine, moan and groan? Threaten to sue the airline?

Sure, they give us a pass that offers free food but truth is we hate the inconvenience.

You may find this hard to believe but I have conditioned my mind to thank God for the inconvenience and simply trust in His plans. Listen to the story told by T. W. Wilson.

One day many years ago I was in Atlanta, Georgia, trying to catch a plane to Charlotte, North Carolina, so that I could visit my father and mother.   I got my ticket at the last minute, and I was seated on the plane when all of a sudden the flight director spoke: “Mr. Wilson, please.”  I raised my hand. “You’ll have to deplane,” he said, “because another man had bought his ticket before you, but he was late getting to the terminal.”

I must confess that I complained.  “What kind of a business are you running?”  I asked. They took my baggage off the plane.

The next flight was several hours later, so instead of waiting, I took a taxi to the bus depot in Atlanta.  A bus was ready to leave, and I was told to board and then purchase my ticket when we arrived at the next stop.  When we reached that stop, I phoned my father to tell him that I was taking a bus instead of a plane.

He answered the phone, asking, “Who is this?”

I said, “It’s T. W.”

“Oh, son.  Oh, son . . .” he said repeatedly.  It really didn’t make sense to me.

Finally he said, “Son the plane that you told me you would be on crashed, and all 23 people were killed.”  I was stunned.  It dawned on me that God had spared my life and that he had some more work for me to do!

Suppose God had worked things out in the way that I had wanted – I would be dead and not able to minister today.  This is why I chose Romans 8:28 to be my life’s verse: “We know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose” (KJV).[1] Well, it looks like Mr. Wilson really knows what he’s talking about. Considering his dramatic experience.

Now here’s the problem. Most of us do not have dramatic experiences like Mr. Wilson in our story and when inconveniences come into our lives, we complain.

But what we fail to realize is that every single inconvenience that has happened in our lives, when we allow our 20-20 hindsight vision see it with an open heart, we would realize that God has used them to build us up to become stronger in the process. We begin to realize that our prayers were not answered and what a relief they were not.

Trusting God gives us inner peace. Relinquishing control and allow His hand of divine providence to rule our lives make us enjoy the gift of life that God has given.

Mary Beth says these are the symptoms of Inner Peace

1. A tendency to think and act spontaneously, rather than on fears based on past experiences.
2. An unmistakable ability to enjoy each moment.
3. A loss of interest in judging other people.
4. A loss of interest in judging self.
5. A loss of interest in interpreting the actions of others.
6. A loss of the ability to worry.
7. Frequent, overwhelming episodes of appreciation.
8. Contented feelings of connectedness with others and nature.
9. Frequent attacks of smiling.
10. An increasing tendency to let things happen. And finally:
11. An increased susceptibility to love, and to freely receive the love extended by others, as well as the uncontrollable urge to extend  it.

So trust god. When something you want to happen don’t and something you want to do you can’t. Say a word of prayer and give thanks. Trust God for He knows what’s best for us.

By the way, when you’re in business like me, you get to sign a lot of contracts. And contracts always refer to disasters, calamities and negative events and happenings as “acts of God.”

Listen. God’s acts are for good and not for evil. So stop complaining and start trusting. Always remember that there are only 2 certainties in life. No. They are not death and taxes. The 2 certainties in life are these:

1. That there is a God and
2. You’re not Him.

So put your trust in Him

[1] By T. W. Wilson, DECISION, November 1998