Bad Vibrations

You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good...

~Genesis 50:20

Joseph spoke the above words after he had been through a lot. His brothers were worried that he would hold a grudge against them, because let's face it, he had every right to by human standards. However, he looked past the bad vibrations, past the hurt, the pain, the wrong doings, and he saw what God did through all of those bad things. 

Last Friday I had a bad day, to say the least! I was behind on my work and trying to get caught up when it happened. My cat knocked over a vase that I had sitting on my desk, soaking everything: my research, notes, to do list, keyboard, mouse, computer, laptop, spare printer paper, 3 of my notebooks, my work binder, a book, all of my notepads, me and the clothes that I was wearing... I could go on, but you get the point. 

As I sat there lividly looking at the water and desperately dabbing at the electronics, the words of Joseph flew to my mind. I had just read them the night before (because I'm already a week behind in my Bible reading plan for the year), and they just resounded in my heart. "God intended it for good." I don't know what good can come out of wet electronics and ruined papers, but God didn't call me to understand, He called me to trust. 

So as sat there sopping up the mess, I fought the urge to focus on all that was lost; the urge to focus on the things of this world. I had to shift my focus on how much greater God was then anything I could ever put on paper. My computer wasn't ruined. The water missed the power strip by an inch or two, so nothing fried. Yes, I lost some notes due to water damage, but it wasn't the end of the world. God is still God, and I am still not. 

I guess that the whole experience was humbling. It forced me to slow down and meditate on the reason that I do the things that I do. It made me look at the importance of material objects (replaceable or not), and really just refreshed my perspective. On a day when I was overwhelmed and beating myself up about being behind, I would have never guessed that a disaster like that would be the thing that improved my attitude, but if I had to guess, I bet God did.

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