A Blessing in Disguise


With a nauseated feeling I stumble off the plane, “Why am I so sick?” I think to myself. Praying, I slowly made my way through the crowds of people in search of my connecting gate. Maybe it was because I was on a small plane and the landing was rough, or maybe it was something I ate. I just had the worst case of car/plane sickness that I could remember.  
With a pulled hamstring, I painfully walked over to a vender to get some juice. “Hopefully this will make me feel better,” I say to myself. Making my way back, I stand in line as the airline officials prepare for boarding. A thought comes to mind, “When you’ve been car sick before you’ve sung songs and that has made you feel better.” As memories flash in my mind of previous times, I decide to give it a try. Three tall, grim, unhappy looking men, push in line in front of me. I smile weakly as I sip my juice and go to the side. “Maybe singing “Jesus loves me” will soften their hearts,” I think.
As I sing, “Jesus Loves me” in English and then Spanish, two ladies come join the line as well. Feeling better, I am deeply impressed to sing, “A Chasing of the Wind/Why do we live without Jesus” by Jennifer Lamountain. A longing fills my heart for these people to know Jesus. With that thought in my mind I sing the last few phrases louder than I anticipated.  “Why do we live without Jesus? Why do we waste another day? He is the life that sustains us, our only hope for us today. So tell me, Why do we live, why do we live, without Him?” As the song ends I turn around unexpectedly as a lady behind me, with tears in her eyes says, “You have a beautiful voice.” “Oh thank-you”, I say, kind of shocked that someone was listening.  She asks me why I’m traveling and I tell her about http://www.restoration-international.org/ and the ministry that they do.
She then opens up to me about her son who had battled brain cancer and died at the young age of eight.  As she talks to me, I can see the pain that she went through. With tears in her voice she says,“If it wasn’t for God, I don’t know where I’d be.”
“He has always been with you through it all” I say in a hushed voice. “He cares for you and will never leave your side.” She wipes away her tears.  
We talk some more and then I proceed to board the plane. Later as she passes my seat, I tell her, “God bless you!” and she replies, “Thank-you, God bless you too.”


As the plane takes off I ponder what just happened. Praise God I was no longer sick.  God had used my sickness, to comfort and witness to someone that was hurting. But what if I hadn’t gotten sick? I wouldn't have had the opportunity to share Jesus. What if I had sung a different song, like “Raindrops On Roses” or had not sung at all because I was afraid that someone might hear me? I would have stood  waiting in line, unaware that someone was yearning for comfort from pain and loss. I would have missed a wonderful opportunity to share with her about Jesus’ love.


Friends, our every action, word, and attitude  is noticed whether we realize it or not. As Christians, we represent Jesus to whoever we come in contact with. And it doesn’t have to be long, just five minutes can make a world of difference in someones life. Just a smile, a word of kindness, a thoughtful action, can make someone's day brighter.


“Ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD, and my servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me.” Isaiah 43:10

“The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.” Psalm 34:18

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