"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."
- Romans 8:28

Sometimes a mistake isn't a mistake.

Today's "devotional" is more of a praise to the Lord and a reminder that "all things work together for good" when your life is in the hands of God than it is a regular devotional.

A few weeks ago, I sent my daily devotional out as I usually do...immediately before I go to bed on the night before.

And I awoke the next day to find an email awaiting me from someone who was not happy about having received my devotional.

It seems that I had inadvertently sent my devotional out to one of my business email lists of several thousand customers for my marketing business.

And many of them were less than pleased.  And they let me know this without pulling any punches.

I immediately issued an "apology" for my mistake and assured them that while my faith is VERY important to me that I wouldn't intentionally abuse their email address by sending them devotionals that they did not request.

I re-sent the devotional - this time to the correct email address.  And I went on my way, not really thinking much more about it.

And then the "working together for good" started playing out before my very eyes.  God indeed was at work.  And He took my error and turned it into good.

Over 50 people from my business list joined the devotional mailing list as a result of reading that devotional.  I never knew that I was working with so many brothers and sisters in Christ.  It was very encouraging.

But, it doesn't stop there.  I had many people email me to say that the devotional (TRUSTING THE CONDUCTOR) was a message from God for them and came at the EXACT time that they needed to hear it.  One man told me that he and his wife were both looking for jobs and were growing discouraged and the devotional came and lifted their spirits.

I read email after email telling me of similar situations of how, just out of the blue, a message from the Lord came to them through this "mistake."

I even got to communicate with several professing agnostics and atheists, a few of which actually told me that they enjoyed reading the devotional!

Whether the rest were angry, happy or indifferent, the Word of God was shared in places that it might never have had the opportunity to be shared.

It may have been a mistake on my part, but it wasn't a mistake on God's part.  He once again showed why HE is in control.

I'm reminded of a story of an elderly man who had cataracts.  He was scheduled to have surgery to correct the problem and, because of his age, had to undergo a physical examination to make sure he was able to have the surgery safely.

During the examination, the doctors found cancer.  But, it was caught early enough that they were able to treat it without any complications.

Later, the man was speaking before a group and he said to them, "Thank God for cataracts."

He was saying the same thing that I am...

...sometimes a mistake isn't a mistake.

And both of us are just restating what Paul said...

"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."
- Romans 8:28