Transformed Disappointments
Illustration★★★★Illustration 7. Sometimes we make plans and something completely upsets them. The result is that we are very much disappointed and sometimes dis- couraged. Yet, many times if we respond to God’s leading, we are led into what we might call transformed disappointments.
The new plan of life brings us greater happiness than we had thought to get from the plans that have been upset. A minister tells this little incident: “One day we had an oppor- tunity to get a ride to a home several miles from the parsonage.
We were anxious to see the woman who lived in this ranch, on account of the condition of her health. But when we went to the house we found she had gone away.
We were disappointed in not seeing our friend and we had plenty of time to think about it on the several mile walk towards home. About a mile from where we lived, we felt moved in a strange way to call at a home. “Our call was very opportune. There were several people there we had not expected to see.
For our disappointment, there was sub- stituted another plan that brought us even greater joy and service than we could have gained by seeing the one we had started out to see.”
The point
A minister describes how a disappointment of being unable to visit a sick friend was transformed when God's leading took him instead to visit another home, yielding even greater spiritual fruit. The illustration teaches how transformed disappointments become blessings when we trust divine guidance.