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June 2005 Table of Contents
From My Heart To Yours
Unexpected Blessings
By Jackie Evans, J&J Music
 Sometimes God tries to bless us and He has to do it over our kicking and screaming. The reason, I think, is that we have our own agenda and can't see that God is trying to give us an unexpected treat. After saying all of this, I have to relate to you an experience that happened to me.
Recently, Jerry and I flew in from Los Angeles with less than a 12 hour turnaround when we had to fly out again. We are 15 minutes from the Mobile airport but we usually fly in and out of the Gulfport MS airport (which is an hour drive for us) because the air fares are much more competitive than in Mobile.
You've heard me tell about my luggage angels that fly with me to make sure our luggage arrives safely with us. Prior to leaving LA, I reminded God that I needed very responsible angels and also that He remember how important it was for us to have all our luggage since we had to leave out again in such a short time.
When we arrived in Gulfport, on a regional jet, about six military duffels were unloaded and that was about it. No, none of our bags made it. We went to file a report and they confirmed that our bags were somewhere but they couldn't tell us where. With nothing else to do but get a lost bag phone number, file our missing bag report, we left…with me in total disbelief that God, or the angels assigned to our bags, had let me down.
When we left the parking lot, the attendant commented to us about how heavy the fog had been early that morning and that the forecast was the same for the next day. Now, not only did we have no bags, but we would also have to leave home at 3:30 AM to make the drive to Gulfport in heavy fog for a 6:30 AM flight.
We found out that ours was the last flight in due to weather and possibly they could get our bags re-routed to Mobile from wherever they were...no promises though.
On the way home, I was trying to figure out all of this. I told God I was a little upset that He didn't handle this situation like I had asked Him to. He had to know how important this was…what had happened? (Just like a whinny kid, isn't it?)
After we arrived home and had dinner, we decided to make one more effort and drove to the Mobile airport to see if the bags had, by some miracle, gotten in. No, they had not, and no one had even located them. But…the lady in bag claim asked Jerry if it would help if they flew us out of Mobile the next day rather than out of Gulfport. In shock and surprise, he quickly accepted. Two legs of the trip they even bumped us up to first class!
This is the treat God had in mind for us:
He prevented us from having to drive to Gulfport the next day which, in dense fog, would have taken at least two hours.
He gave us extra sleep! Instead of getting up at 2:30 AM; we could get up at 7:30 AM.! Wow! What a blessing!
We flew out of Mobile instead of Gulfport! (which I always love to do)
I know this is a long-winded story and there is a point to it which is that God does know what is best for us. He wants to surprise us with special blessings that we don't even ask for.
In order for God to give us a blessing of extra and much-needed sleep, in order for us not to have to make the long drive through dense fog, in order to take a later flight out of Mobile, our luggage had to be delayed. God was trying to give us an unexpected and undeserved blessing and I was grumbling and complaining all the way! I don't know why God didn't just look down at me and say, "Well, fine, Jackie! If that's the way you feel, I'll just let you have your way. I had a big surprise in store for you but your attitude is so bad, I'll give you what you want and you'll never know the good things I have planned for you!"
Well, needless to say, I've told God 1000 times how sorry I was that I doubted Him, that my attitude was bad, that I didn't trust Him in all my situations.
Another point is this; and we all know it… God sees the big picture in our lives, we can't. When unpleasant things happen, God has a reason. It may be to help us grow closer to Him or it may be to bless us with an unexpected blessing… just to do something special for us.
Our job is to trust Him and not complain.
By the way, when we returned home from our next trip, our luggage had been delivered, safe and sound!
Grateful for His Faithfulness
Jackie
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