Have you ever had one of those days when nothing goes right?

You can’t help but wonder if the universe is out to get you?

It feels like you’re drowning in the challenges you face.

Have you heard the expression, “When it rains, it pours? Or that things usually come in threes?”

Is this superstition or is there something else going on?

Perhaps there is a better way to interrupt the cycle of what we call “bad luck.”  I am not saying that unpleasant circumstances won’t be present in our lives. What I am saying is that there is a better way of perceiving things that are out of our control.

Stories are powerful, and it was a story from Joel Osteen that completely changed my perspective, and my life. In Osteen’s words:

A lady was complaining about everything that went wrong in her day and she asked God why nothing had worked out for her that day. In frustration the lady said,

“God why did you let so many things happen to me today? My alarm didn’t go off and I was late to work.  At lunch, they made my sandwich wrong I had to send it back. On my drive home, my cell phone dropped the call right in the middle of a conversation. To top it off when I got home, I wanted to put my feet in the foot massager, but it wouldn’t turn on.  God nothing turned out right today!”

God answered.

“OK let me go down the list. Your alarm didn’t go off because there was a drunk driver on the road, I delayed you on purpose so you wouldn’t get harmed.  Your sandwich? You had to send it back because the first person that made it wasn’t feeling well and I didn’t want you to catch what they had so I had someone else remake it. The call that dropped on your drive home, that person was about to fill your head with gossip and I did not want you to get contaminated so I cut it off and the foot massage machine had a short in it and it could had seriously harmed you.”

When I heard Osteen’s story, (https://youtu.be/Bq8uImvPpU4) it gave me much to think about as I began to recall every incident that didn’t go according to my plan.

Could it be that the Universe knows exactly what she’s doing? Could it be that very thing that often frustrates, disappoints or upsets us is the Universe at work behind the scenes orchestrating and recalculating our steps for a better outcome? Could it be that what we cannot see, it’s what is in fact protecting us?

I think it is important to learn to apply a more positive perspective to the things we cannot control and to have a little more faith.  As Osteen says, “If that difficulty or incident is going to keep you from your destiny, God would have never permitted it.”

Perhaps that setback, delay, bad break, or inconvenience we experience is nothing but a setup in disguise to protect, propel and prepare us for something great.

Still have doubts? This next story from Herb Kipf in Beatrice, Nebraska is one to remember.

Every Wednesday evening, Herb and 13 other choir members would meet for their choir practice.  The choir members arrived earlier to set up so that they could commence sharply at 7:30 pm.  On that particular evening, Herb said he was running late because he could not find his car keys. Once Herb got to the West side, he noticed it was completely dark. Herb approached the church, with two minutes to spare, when the entire church blew up in a huge explosion.

There had been a gas leak.  The side walls had collapsed.  The roof and floor ended up in the basement, and surely nobody could have lived through that. Surprisingly, very body that should have been already inside the church was safe. For some reason, everyone was standing outside, shocked at what just happened.

Each one of the choir members was late, for one reason or another, each detained just enough to cause them to miss the explosion.  Some choir members missed their bus.  Another member missed a green light.  Two sisters who were always early could not find their instruments.

There were mysterious delays that were frustrating at the time I am sure, but all the delays and frustrations for each choir member were there for a reason.

To save their lives.

Coincidence or divine intervention?

I can understand a few, but all 13 of them? Too many individual circumstances involved to think that it was merely a coincidence.  Now, each time I get delayed by something I cannot control, I don’t question it.  I choose to tell myself there is a reason why I missed that green light even though I was in a hurry to get somewhere.  If I am traveling and my flight is delayed, I am grateful. Perhaps my life was just spared in ways I’ll never know. If a relationship did not pan out, I choose to believe it is because there is someone better waiting for me.  I now give thanks in advance for sparing me from something bad.

In truth I cannot prove that there is something to this.  What I do know for certain is that believing in this has given my life more acceptance and peace.  I do not know for sure what would have been the case had I not missed that green light, or had I gone in that flight on time but faith is like that.  It requires us to believe even when we cannot see.

I used to doubt that there was a mystical presence guiding and protecting my trajectory. I shook it off as pure coincidence.  Today I choose to embrace this thinking. I now choose to think that I have a partner, a mystical force, a guardian angel that is forever guarding and protecting my steps.

It is not always easy and it takes practice to learn to apply this perspective.  I am not saying that it will work for you 100 percent of the time, but it sure is worth trying.  I challenge you, the next time SHIT HAPPENS, remember that perhaps that very thing happening for you could in fact be a miracle leading you to your highest and greatest good.

Food for thought!

With Gratitude,