Brenda had a few things around her house that needed to be repaired. To keep from paying through the nose for a professional, Jason, a co-worker, offered to help her at the cost of a home-cooked meal. She had worked with Jason for a long time. They were both single, but Brenda had never been interested in him. She did, however, know that he was interested in her. Money was a little tight, so she didn’t think she could resist the offer for his help, and Jason was hoping this would be the opportunity he had been waiting for. He was notoriously handy, and for a single parent with a home and munchkins to take care of, someone like Jason can be a huge blessing.
Keeping it real, men are more likely to have handy skills for fixing things. Single women, especially mothers, are often faced with a situation where they don’t have time to look at a ‘how to’ video and don’t have the acumen to follow it. When it comes to repairs, unless you’ve gotten a good referral, you’ve got to go the extra mile of scrutinizing credentials very carefully. So, when you consider the extra layer of caution when it comes to who we allow in our spaces, having someone you know offer to help out is a single woman’s dream.
Brenda thought that Jason eavesdropping her convo about things going wrong in her house was him being at the right place at the right time. In her mind it was a hidden blessing from God, because she would never have come straight out and asked Jason for help. Brenda was spiritually mature enough to handle the whole situation, but some of us are not. Without spiritual maturity, something that could help us out now and down the road, could turn into a major hiccup.
A blessing is a little different than an opportunity. A blessing is a God deal. It’s a gift from Him, and with it comes both a benefit to the receiver and to the person God works through to deliver the blessing. An opportunity is the potential to be blessed, but many people mess up the opportunity before the blessing is realized. For instance, some women in Brenda’s position would not give two cents about Jason’s heart, nor would they care about keeping the boundaries intact so that he never misreads her intentions.
Ephesians 4:32(NLT) tells us to be kind and tenderhearted to one another. This is the starting point for all our interactions. Even though a man may have interests that go beyond certain boundaries, when we stick to Godliness, he will go above and beyond not because of what he thinks he can get, but because God causes all things to work together for our good. When we keep the Lord in the driver’s seat, things work out to His glory. We need to stick to God’s way, because this is what it means to be guided by Him and to be led by His Spirit.
Hebrews 5:14(NLT) tells us, “Solid food is for those who are mature, who through training have the skill to recognize the difference between right and wrong.” Our God is consistently consistent, so this same wisdom in Hebrew 5:14 should be applied to relationships and other blessings. Solid blessings are for those that can handle them because they have trained themselves through God’s Word to be good stewards. 1Corinthians 14:20 warns us not to be childish in our understanding of spiritual matters. God can and will work through many people to bless us, and we must be innocent and pure in our reception of God’s gifts by conducting ourselves righteously. ■
Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.
“A Hidden Blessing from God”, written by Kim Times, edited by Reverend Fran Mack, for Sundie Morning Sistas ©2021. All rights reserved. All done to the glory of God through Jesus Christ, our Lord! SMS is dedicated to inspiring and encouraging Christian Women through the Word of God.