I'm glad that it happened to you

The other day a pretty bazaar thing happened--there occurred a technical glitch while my husband was blogging. He told me his alarming tale of his lengthy post, upon publication, getting mixed up with some other person's post, actually losing half his post and seeing it replaced with Japanese text! He was able to retrieve his blog in its entirety by some miracle and act of forethought. If that happened to me, I would have panicked!

After initially feeling flabbergasted, I then felt relieved. I thought, "I'm so glad that it happened to you and not to me."

Have you ever felt that way about another person's circumstance? (Maybe not all the time, but sometimes...?)

Or how about your own situation? Are you ever glad that a seemingly bad situation did happen to you and not to someone else?

I know I felt that way when we first found out our daughter, Maria, had Down Syndrome. Well, perhaps I must have had mixed feelings at the onset. But those other feelings of maybe self-pity or being frightened, resentful or mournful (all the feelings I've often heard other parents described that they had felt when they first found out their child had special needs) aren't what I remember feeling the most. I do remember thinking that God had a purpose for our beautiful baby, of our life as parents and I couldn't imagine her belonging to anyone else. I can't say I felt prideful or self-envy. Actually, I felt empowered, (moreso at times then at other times; nevertheless, I felt encouraged) that we were the perfect, fully fit and most qualified parents to love and care for her. Where did this notion come from? Perhaps it was faith in God's ability to provide for us--the family He was designing. Or maybe it was purely the will of my character to just simply acquiesce to some Higher Authority because it seemed far beyond me to understand the scope and reason that her life would be intertwined with ours. In the end, though, I suppose that it was God's gracious Spirit speaking to my heart and mind--offering joy and equipping me with peace (...that passes all understanding).

Thank you, God. I feel so blessed and loved.