Written by: Patricia Everaert

I’ve been having problems with my brain lately. It might be early onset Alzheimer’s.  That’s why I wasn’t surprised this morning when I couldn’t find my wallet in the pocket it normally lives in. So, grimly determined to not melt down but just deal with it, I took a moment to pray (really, just a brief “Help!”) Then I equipped myself with several official documents bearing identification, fully prepared to spend my morning at the bank and Service Ontario, casting sad eyes at overworked employees to plead their help. What should I find on the passenger seat of my car, but my wallet!  Hurrah!

Taking full advantage of the fact that I was actually dressed and out of the house several hours before I was expected at work, I went to my local farmers’ market. I love going to the Farmers’ Market, but I’m usually so scattered I have to rush to work, rather than enjoy the ritual of browsing the stalls.

This is an example of how a seeming catastrophe can be a blessing. Romans 8:28 tells us that “all things work for good for those who love God, who are called according to His purpose”. I don’t take this to mean that because I go to church there will never be hardship in my life, or that things will never go wrong – that would be like the interpretation of Papal Infallibility as meaning the Pope can never make mistakes. Rather, I understand it to mean that God, in His infinite love for us, is only ever providing for our ultimate good, which is holiness, regardless of how circumstances look or feel in the moment. A lost wallet is a miserable event.  Even just thinking I’d lost my wallet was a miserable start to my day. I very consciously decided to trust that it would work out ok, even if I had to stand in line for hours and endure inconveniences I didn’t even know about yet.

I didn’t find my wallet because I trusted God to take care of me.  That isn’t the blessing I’m talking about.  The blessing was being able to turn to God in the first place, and because I put God first, ahead of annoyance or worry, my disposition was primed to experience the fun and delight and joy of doing my grocery shopping at the farmers’ market.

“Seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you besides” Matthew 6:33

“For I know well the plans I have in mind for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for woe, so as to give you a future of hope” – Jeremiah 29:11