Blessings In Disguise? Is That Possible?

Blessings in disguise? Why would someone want to put a mask on a blessing? Good ol' Merriam-Webster says that a mask suggests some often obvious means of hiding or disguising something. Can blessings truly be in disguise or masked? Can it be possible that something so painful and sad can be a blessing? Read on...you tell me...

I had mixed emotions this past Wednesday when my father-in-law dropped off Michelle's 2003 Ford F150. With the loan on it paid in full, he had us the key. It was difficult to look out the window at the truck and realize that Michelle was never going to be stopping by to pick it back up. Michelle, Jack's 34 year old sister, passed away unexpectedly this last November. When something like that happens, you hear people say..."God will take this and turn it around to something good". At that particular moment though, you are screaming in your mind...How could this be turned to something good?!! I know that I only knew Michelle for 8 years of those 34. So, I realize that the amount of emotion I feel when I think of her not coming back is just a portion of what my husband, and in-law's feel inside. Sometimes I miss her so much that I could literally cry myself a river. So, you can understand why it was such mixed feelings when my father-in-law handed us the key to the truck and said, "it's yours". My husband and I have only had one car for six years. At times it has been a trying ordeal. But, we have managed. At times, we had thought of going and buying an additional vehicle, but we did not want the car payment. So this morning as my husband left for work in a paid-in-full truck I glanced out the window to see our car sitting out in the driveway. Yes, it will be a blessing that we have another vehicle without another car payment. But, I am sure that I would not have chosen this route in order to obtain an extra vehicle. Some may call it a blessing in disguise. Which perhaps that is what it is. But whatever it may be, I know that as difficult as it is for my mind to comprehend, God has a season for everything. Sometimes that means that we have to go through a difficult time to get to the blessing. But I am determined that I will take the best care of this truck. Not only because it was Michelle's, but because it is a blessing from the Lord.

An answer to a prayer prayed long ago. I guess it is proof that God answers prayers in HIS timing and in HIS own way. I had prayed a long time ago that we needed an extra vehicle. Good, dependable (preferably a truck), newer than our car (which is a 1999) and without a payment. I had heard Sister Freeman talk about praying specifically and had heard others say that also. So that is what I did. I did not expect to receive my answer to prayer in this way though. But, I must trust that God is in control...He knows what he is doing.

When we looked at the truck Wednesday...we knew that it needed a little bit of T.L.C. It needed new front brakes and the inside was pretty dirty. (My sister-in-law Brittany(Jack's little sister) and her 4 kids had the truck from November up until Wednesday.) So, to start out Jack replaced the front brakes. He started Thursday night after work and worked for a while on it. Then after work on Friday he started on it again and finished that night after the rain storm. Saturday morning we took the truck to a detailing service in Plano. Jack told them that if they could get it cleaned up, he would give them an extra generous tip. When we came back a couple of hours later to pick the truck back up, I was impressed. It looked like a brand new truck inside and out! It was beautiful! I whispered a "Thank you, Jesus" for the blessing and then held back the tears...Michelle would have been proud at how nice the truck looked.

Saturday evening we all piled into the truck and headed out to Lindale, Texas. We have some friends out there that asked us to babysit their kids that night. We ended up spending the night and came back Sunday evening. They live in a house they rent that sits on about 200+ acres. There is a fenced in cow pasture behind the house...surrounded by trees and plenty of fresh air. It is really a nice place to come to when you want to get away from the fast paced city life. It actually reminds me of rural North Dakota. That is probably why I like it out there so much. But on the way home last night, once again I thought of what a blessing that truck will be in the days, months and years to come. I do not necessarily like the idea of how we acquired it, but I will leave that part up to God. I will miss Michelle and her beautiful smile. But, I guess we will always have a part of her with us...a beautiful 2003 Ford F150...our blessing in disguise.

Michelle and her daughter Maya, October 2006.

Maya (Age 4, Brittany's biological daughter) has lived with Michelle since birth and was going to be officially adopted by her this spring. But, now Maya lives with Brittany, Tanner (age 8) and the twins, Hailey & Aimee (age 6, soon to be 7).