God Works in Mysterious Ways

I'm occasionally reminded that God works in mysterious ways. Last Sunday, President Belnap told the story about his son, Elliot. Elliot was playing soccer, but he was most looking forward to playing volleyball later, so President Belnap prayed that Elliot would play safely. 

He didn't.

As Elliot dove to hit the soccer ball, he landed badly and injured his right wrist. At the hospital, Brother Belnap prayed to ask God, basically, "What gives?" And God responded in a voice that Brother Belnap recognizedas saying, "Watch this."

As it turned out, Elliot's wrist wasn't broken, merely sprained. It would heal. In the meantime, Elliot practiced playing Volleyball left-handed, learning how to spike well with his left hand. He went on to play Volleyball just as he had planned, and he ended up scoring several important points by spiking with his left hand.

This experience President Belnap shared last week reminded me of the Midnight Miracle, which I don't think I've blogged about, at least not as a complete story. I don't have time to tell the whole story now, but the short version is that a series of seemingly unfortunate circumstances and decisions led to a handful of miracles that weren't likely to have happened any other way.

There are countless stories of such miracles. God can turn misfortunes and coincidences into miracles that bless our lives and those of the people whom we love. I don’t know how He does it, and I don't know why He chooses to bless our lives through misfortune, but I trust that things ultimately work out, even if they don't always work out the way we would like, and that we can find silver linings around even the darkest clouds.

God works in mysterious ways. We don't always know why He does what He does, but we can always trust that He has a plan for us and that, no matter what is happening, God can turn it into a miracle.