blessing
a beneficial thing for which one is grateful.
Have you ever lost your bags while traveling? If you have, I’m sure you know that it can be very easy to get mad at the flight for losing your bag, become frustrated, and it can sure stress you out because our minds automatically go to “What am I going to do without all my stuff?”
My squad and I recently experienced this while traveling from Atlanta, GA to Bucharest, Romania. Our original flight in Atlanta was delayed for around four hours which caused us to have to sprint through the Amsterdam airport to make our connecting flight to Romania. We made the flight, but in that process our bags were left in Amsterdam. Now normally this wouldn’t be a huge deal, but you have to remember all 29 of us are living out of two backpacks for the next 9 months, which meant all of our stuff (literally everything we have) was lost. This quickly turned into all of us sitting in the baggage claim area of the Bucharest airport for an extra three hours having to fill out claims to be able to get our bags back.
So what’s the blessing in all this?
After we finished all the claims and filled out the reports we then had to get on a bus to get to the train station because we still had a three hour train ride to get to our ministry house in Craiova. We were lucky enough to fit all 29 of us on the bus and let me tell you, that would have been impossible if we had all 29 of our 40 pound bags. When we arrived at the train station it became even more apparent how much of an issue we would have had if we all had our bags with us. Not only would people have had to stay back to watch bags while people grabbed food, but once on the train there would have literally been no room for us to move around. Our packs are basically the size of of us, so they are annoying enough to carry around in general, but I honestly don’t know what we would have done if we had our bags on the train.
Once we were finally in Craiova, the next day they hand delivered our bags to us at our ministry site. We didn’t even have to go pick them up from the airport.
Never thought I’d say this, but I’m so grateful that our packs got left in Amsterdam.
Blessing are not always a gift wrapped with a bow, sometimes they can even be disguised in frustration, stress, or anger. I challenge you to look for a gift in every situation even when it seems impossible.
Love you all!
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Praise God for his blessings! I am so glad that you and your Squad were able to see and recognize the blessing God was giving you! Continue to look for His blessings.
Hi Sumer, loved your blog! Thanks for sharing!
Hi Sumer!
Wow! God is always working behind the scenes and always has good planned… no matter how it appears to us. But it’s incredible how He revealed the blessing of that first trial to you! And it’s wonderful that you’re giving Him praise for it! Can’t wait to hear of the many more stories and blessings to come. You and Squad X will be in my prayers daily! Thanks for blogging!
They always say “God is in the details”…how many times do we overlook that or get bogged down in our own plans?? Way to go Sister!! Keep looking for the Good in all things and your mind will be amazed this year!!!
Love ya,
Mrs. K
Thank you Sumer for sharing you heart on blessings!! It really touched my heart??
The ?? Is suppose to be a heart
This is so precious! I bet since you were on the logistics team you were especially concerned about the backpack situation! So gracious of God to start your trip out with this important object lesson… He is in the details and His ways are best. Thank you for your service and may God continue to bless all of you in Craiova and beyond.
It shows incredible maturity that you saw the blessing and did not get lost in the mind trap of..how will I make it without my bags?
Most folks would be more focused on the loss rather than that which was gained…a blessing!
Sumer,
I have planned to follow your journey. Read your blogs and find pleasure in knowing how much good you will bring to all the countires you visit. I am surprised at your first encounter with the luggage. Maybe surprised is not the word. Impressed. You stood your ground, had faith, knew in the end you would be ok. Praised GOD for his planned blessings even when you only had faith to go on. Sometimes its not what happened that encourages those to see, but the feeling you get when someone’s always prepared to take care of you in the end. Faith.
At a time when we have lost so many (work) i cant imagine traveling through without people in place. This story gives me hope it will all be ok. So thank you for your faith. I will lean on it for a bit. Happy travels dear. 🙂
So so good to be able to see the silver lining in hard things!
I travel a lot and when I lose bags it never feels like a blessing! Wonderful insight and God was watching over you!
Satan thought derailing the bags could derail the trip… no doubt he will try again.. thanks for reminding me only Abba could take a satan attack, get a good laugh, and twist it into a blessing.
Hi Sumer! Thank you for sharing.
God is so good! All the time??
Don’t know why the question marks showed up!
God is so good! All the time!
What a great start to an exciting 9 months! Blessings do come in all things. May you have many more blessings!!!
Love it Sumer!! Sometimes the greatest blessings come in ways we least expect, and they surely don’t always look the way we think they should… THOSE are the blessings that are the BEST! Great attitude!
Like her high maintenance Mom (sadly)
My dearest Sumer…you have always been pretty good at finding the positive in a negative situation but to mark it as a blessing warmed my heart for your Godly character. This adventure is already going SO well that I cannot fathom the total picture in the finish line.
A good friend recently reminded me that I have prayed for this walk your whole life and now you’re living it. GOD IS FAITHFUL. Love, Mom