“For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all” (2 Corinthians 4:17, NIV).

He presented to our hospital with 250,000 white cells. He had known about it before, but he had let his leukemia take a back seat to his drug addiction. The reason we had him now was his recent incarceration. He understood the danger of ignoring his illness and said he would commit himself to a better lifestyle and compliance with his medicines. “I guess that jail time was a blessing,” he said. “It was an uncomfortable blessing, but it saved my life.”

When is the last time you experienced an “uncomfortable blessing?”

A great number of us know how uncomfortable our internship year of training was, but what a blessing we received with the privilege to experience it.

My mother, now with the Lord, felt guilty for decades regarding our daughter Catherine. Catherine was a determined gymnast with clear possibilities of college competition and even the Olympics someday. This dedication had so focused her life that there was no room for “normal life.” My mother prayed for a change in her intense focus, so she might find the joy of life outside of athletics. At the age of 14, Catherine was practicing back flips on the gym floor, lost her way and fell, snapping a vertebral body, threatening her spinal cord. Her gymnastic career was over, and my mother felt it was her fault because of her prayers. What a blessing that change in life has been for Catherine, her husband and the four grandchildren she brought into my life.

We should not be surprised that great blessings often come in uncomfortable packages. The Son of Man, who rose from the dead to be exalted above all others, carried His cross on the way to His exaltation.

We understand this dynamic during good times, but we struggle to believe the blessing is real when the uncomfortable is wrapped around us. That requires faith. My Lord promises He will work for the good within all things I experience because I love Him and am settled within His purpose (Romans 8:28).

I believe Him as I look back on my life. Can I believe Him in the middle of it all?

Dear Father,

Thank you for broken pieces you fashion into our good and your glory.

Amen