An old story is told of a king in Africa who had a close friend with whom he grew up. The friend had a habit of looking at every situation that ever occurred in his life (positive or negative) and remarking, “This is good!”

One day the king and his friend were out on a hunting expedition. The friend would load and prepare the guns for the king. The friend had apparently done something wrong in preparing one of the guns, for after taking the gun from his friend, the king fired it and his thumb was blown off.

Examining the situation the friend remarked as usual, “This is good!” To which the king replied, “No, this is NOT good!” and proceeded to send his friend to jail.

About a year later, the king was hunting in an area that he should have known to stay clear of. Cannibals captured him and took him to their village. They tied his hands, stacked some wood, set up a stake and bound him to the stake. As they came near to set fire to the wood, they noticed that the king was missing a thumb. Being superstitious, they never ate anyone that was less than whole. So untying the king, they sent him on his way.

As he returned home, he was reminded of the event that had taken his thumb and felt remorse for his treatment of his friend. He went immediately to the jail to speak with his friend. “You were right,” he said, “it was good that my thumb was blown off.”

And he proceeded to tell the friend all that had just happened. “And so I am very sorry for sending you to jail for so long. It was bad for me to do this.” “No,” his friend replied, “This is good!” “What do you mean, ‘This is good’? How could it be good that I sent my friend to jail for a year?”

“If I had NOT been in jail, I would have been with you.”

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“And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose.” (Rom. 8:28)

Situations may not always seem pleasant while we are in them, but the promise of God is clear.

A young man was getting ready to graduate college. For many months he had admired a beautiful sports car in a dealer’s showroom, and knowing his father could well afford it, he told him that was all he wanted.

As Graduation Day approached, the young man awaited signs that his father had purchased the car. Finally, on the morning  of his graduation his father called him into his private study. His father told him how proud he was to have such a fine son, and  told him how much he loved him. He handed his son a beautiful   wrapped gift box.

Curious, but somewhat disappointed the young man opened the box and found a lovely, leather-bound Bible. Angrily, he raised his voice at his father and said, “With all your money you give  me  a Bible?” and stormed out of the house, leaving the holy book.

Many years passed and the young man became a very successful in business. He had a beautiful home and wonderful family, but realized his father was very old, and thought perhaps he should go to him. He had   not seen him since that graduation day. Before he could make arrangements, he received a telegram telling him his father had passed away, and willed all of his possessions to his son. He needed  to come home immediately and take care things.

When he arrived at  his father’s house, sudden sadness and regret filled his heart.

He began to search his father’s important papers and saw the still new Bible, just as he had left it years ago. With tears,  he opened the Bible and began to turn the pages. As he read those   words, a car key dropped from an envelope taped behind the Bible.

It  had a tag with the dealer’s name, the same dealer who had the sports  car he had desired. On the tag was the date of his graduation, and the words…PAID IN FULL !!

How many times do we miss God’s blessings because they are not packaged as we expected?

There was a little boy who once heard how many people in the world do not know the love of Jesus. The boy had a great desire to become a missionary so that he can travel places sharing the love of God.

Unfortunately, one day he met with an accident and lost both his legs. He was laid on the bedside of a window and was supplied with his daily needs. The boy grieved in his heart that he can no longer go places to share the love of Jesus. He was so disappointed.

Then one day an idea struck him, everyday he made small chits with one liners in it that read messages like Jesus Loves You, Jesus Heals You, Jesus Saves You etc. He threw these chits from the window on the travelers who passed by the road. He did these for years but did not see any response.

One day a stranger knocked at the door. He asked if there is anybody on the window-side throwing chits on the road. The stranger was led to the boy.

The stranger said, “I am a rich industrialist. Two years ago I was struck by a strange disease which had no medicine in the medical world. I was then being taken in an ambulance for an emergency surgery. The ambulance happened to stop by the signal that is beside the window when a paper came flying and stuck to the glass window of the ambulance. It read, “Jesus heals you”.

The message renewed my spirit and encouraged me. Jesus healed me miraculously and today I’m completely restored with good health. Thank you for sharing His love with me”.

No matter in which state we are, we can still share the love of God with others and change their lives.