“God can do anything, you know – far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams” 

Ephesians 3:20a (The Message)

Early one morning years ago we found ourselves driving down to Children’s Hospital for a medical procedure on the day after Christmas. For some reason it seemed like we were always at Children’s Hospital around the holidays. The procedure that day required that Abbey drink several liters of water approximately 30 minutes before, and then hold her bladder until it was all done, about an hour later. This was a lot to ask of any child, let alone a child with special needs. The chances were good that this could go all kinds of wrong. So Eric and I decided to have her drink the water slowly on the drive down and finish up upon arrival, rather than do it at home prior to the drive as they’d instructed. Then both of us hoped, and literally prayed, that she would be able to hold it just long enough to make it through the procedure. 

We arrived a few minutes before our appointment time and the receptionist at the front desk seemed friendly, so I leaned in and told her about our situation. I let her know that we were checking in and that we were ready to go back immediately, and quickly explained that my daughter would NOT be able to wait much longer. 

Just then I heard an anxious voice calling out “I gotta go potty!”. 

As I began to hear the urgent plea, the door to the procedure room swung open, and we heard our daughter’s name called. “Praise God!”, we thought. We quickly rushed Abbey to the back room and up onto the table, telling the technician, in code, that if we didn’t start and finish this exam quickly that she was going to “loose it”. Then the tech asked if she could just scoot down a little, and that was all it took. Our poor little girl had reached her limit, and there was no more holding it. So, off the table she went, as the tech rushed to get towels. We were ushered out the side door to the hallway bathroom to change her clothes and deal with the mess. 

Fearing we’d done all this work for nothing, the tech reassured us that Abbey could simply drink another bottle of water and immediately start the test again. Apparently once hydrated it doesn’t take long for the bladder to fill up again. “Why didn’t they just tell us that from the beginning?!”, we thought. We could have planned to have her take a bathroom break when we arrived, and then drink the required amount of water just before the test, and we would’ve been fine. We wouldn’t have had to go through all of this! But God had a different plan in mind.  

Out in the hallway, as we waited, we noticed a worker coming and going from another door. He was tall, and kind looking, and clearly busy with his duties as an x-ray technician. Soon we were called back, and as we began to walk, we saw that the worker was walking along side us going in the same direction. 

Suddenly Abbey burst forth with a happy, “Hi!” directed toward the man.

He returned a kind, “Hello” back. 

Then she surprised us all. Looking straight up at the man she asked, “Do you know Jesus?”.

The man paused and lit up with a big warm smile and said, “Why yes pretty girl, I do! ” and proceeded to chat with her down the remainder of the hallway until we had reached our door.

What a blessing that moment turned out to be in so many ways. Eric and I were completely astonished by our daughter’s words and her heart. She had never asked someone this before! We didn’t even know that Abbey could say that many words in one sentence at the time, let alone look someone straight in the eyes and ask such a clear question. And her tender heart for this person, and the importance that she placed on his knowing Jesus, left the two of us speechless. We were no longer feeling discouraged in that moment of messy chaos. We were elated! God had stepped right into our mess and reminded us, “I am here with you”.

We call moments like these “Backwards Blessings” in our family. These are the moments, when no matter how much we’ve planned and coordinated, things still go sideways. These are the moments when we’ve prayed and prepared, and we still find ourselves asking what in the world is going on, because it sure seems like everything is falling apart. And these are the moments when we’ve found ourselves on our knees asking God “Why?”. No one in their right mind would think at face value that these are the moments that could turn out to be blessings. It’s seems so backwards from the way we think blessings should come (with ease and in packages like good health, money, and fame). But then our God doesn’t work simply on a face value level, and He doesn’t always work in the way that we think He should work (Isaiah 55:9). He sees into the deepest parts of us; and He knows better than anyone else what is really needed in each and every situation of our lives. It is in these hard times of life, that He does some of His most beautiful work. God takes these heart-breaking chaos-making moments and reveals the true blessings that can come from them. Blessings that we couldn’t have asked for or even imagined (Ephesians 3:20).

We’ve had hundreds of these moments over the years, and every time it is astounding to watch God at work. Many years ago, we had a struggle with our school district, and found that the struggle was just a stepping stone in God’s plan for getting us to the place we needed to be. We have had difficult and scary medical procedures, and realized that God was giving us opportunities to be an example of His love and peace to the nurses, the doctors, and the other hurting families sitting beside us in the waiting rooms. We’ve had public melt downs, and found that we had educated the store’s staff on special needs and won new friends for life. We’ve had to take time off at work again and again and deal with the consequences of a day missed for doctors’ appointments, IEPs, observations etc., and discovered that the time spent together in the car was a gift from God, and was just what was needed to strengthen our marriage after a stressful season of care taking. And we have had countless plans fall apart along the way, and found over and over that the way things ended up was far better than what we could have ever planned, and far beyond what we could have even imagined. Some of these moments have become some of our most treasured memories. 

What we think is a total disaster in the making, He already has a plan for

What we think is a total disaster in the making, He already has a plan for, and we can trust that He will turn it around for His good purposes and make it into a beautiful blessing. Jeremiah 29:11 says, “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.” What a beautiful promise to hold on to in this life. And Romans 8:28 declares, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to his purpose.” What a statement. He works in ALL things for the good of those who love Him. Yes, in All things He works for our good. He takes the impossible and makes it possible. He takes our pain and gives it a purpose, and He takes our mess and turns it into a message. God is an expert in “Backwards Blessings”.