Joseph

We were waiting patiently. Okay, there might have been a little toe-tapping, but we were kinda in a time crunch. Our objective: Buy a 50 gallon water heater. Our progress: Zip. Well, not exactly zip, but super close. "We have two," said the Menards worker, who looked partially bored while checking the stock on her phone. However, the majority of the water heaters were on a top shelf, and only Inspector Gadget could reach them (remember him? He had all kinds of cool... um... gadgets). Oh, and a lift. That's what we were waiting on. 

Forty-five minutes later, we walked out of the store, empty handed. The guys on the lift (who were more interested in impressing the girl workers) halfheartedly looked for our water heater, concluded it was not there (after looking at maybe two on the shelf of twenty-five), and went on their merry lift way. 

Being the optimistic people that we are, we decided to check out another Menards the next morning. But what did we find there? Under the 50 gallon propane gas water heaters were the horrible words, "Special Order." ARGH!! So we decided, after we got done pouting a little, that we would just replace our super old water heater with a 40 gallon model, which was the size of our original one anyway. But here's the cool part. Our new 40 gallon water heater, our second choice, fit where the old one was (which had sat in the same place for thirty-one years) perfectly. And I mean, perfectly. If we had bought the 50 gallon guy, my husband would have had to re-figure everything, including the gas line. A project that only took a half hour or so to hook up would have extended to at least half a day. Maybe longer. Buying the smaller version of what we had in mind was a blessing in disguise.

Joseph's blessings in disguise were a tad bigger than our water heater purchase. I mean, he had some pretty rough circumstances to overcome: Brothers who wanted to murder him but sold him to slavery instead; imprisoned for a crime he did not commit; forgotten by a fellow prisoner who was released with the help of Joseph; and interpreting a troubling dream for Pharaoh (which had to be a little scary!). The amazing part was God was in each situation. Joseph was sold to a man who put him in charge of his household and everything he owned. When Joseph was sent to prison, the warden put him in charge of everything prison-related. And when Pharaoh heard Joseph's interpretation of his dream, and saw that God was with him, he chose Joseph as his second-in-command, and put him in charge of the entire land of Egypt. Each trial, each test of his integrity and faith, ended in blessings for Joseph. There was no wallowing in self-pity, no woe-is-me. No questioning God's motives. Joseph knew God was there with him, walking beside him. His future was in God's hands, and that was enough for Joseph. 

I truly believe that God had worked out our Menards trips to end up exactly how they did. We realized that for some reason our 50 gallon plan was not meant to be, and it ended up that God was saving us a bundle of work and frustration. Because God is not a God of only the big miracles and big circumstances. He works in the everyday of life. I like to think that even the mundane things, like a long line at the grocery store, or a Sunday driver cruising at 40 on a 55 mph road, happen for a reason. With our lives in God's hands, setbacks could be blessings in disguise. We just need to trust in Him, the same God who took care of Joseph, and realize that He sees the bigger picture and will get us there. And that's good enough for me. 

"God is always doing 10,000 things in your life, and you may be aware of three of them." -John Piper