Opportunities in Disguise

In the last week, like myself, you have prayed for an opportunity for something you genuinely desire, something that can potential make a big difference in your life. The thing is, often, when we pray for openings, the answers may not come in the way we expect them. Life conspires in your favour to bring you events and circumstances for your greatest good in a different cloth.

When I was serving in the mandatory one year National Youth Service Crops, I was posted to a place where there was an opportunity to stay home and not report for work daily. Before this, I had prayed to have a Primary Place of Assignment (PPA) that offered flexibility to do some extracurricular activities.   My PPA looked like an answered prayer but had I stayed home and only did my extracurricular task, I would have missed the opportunity to impact. I went every day to work even though my supervisor told me to stay home, and one day I found the chance to help in the NYSC local council office in the vicinity of my PPA. Before long, I was assigned a different task by the Local Government Inspector. Gradually, I gained his trust as I assisted him in doing monthly clearance, community development service attendance, running errands, and more.  That opportunity opened doors to a certain kind of access that I do not take for granted.

Answers to prayers sometimes come as a test. When you pray about a habit, for instance, that you do not like, say impatience, God answers by brining situations in your life that present an opportunity to practice the act of being patient.  To turn a disguise like this one into opportunities for growth requires changing your thought perspective towards reality. Don’t be too fast to assume that a ‘problem’ you may encounter is there to hinder your progress.  Our lives’ outward events are sometimes compass to guide us and test our inner resolve presenting opportunities in the growth path.

What change will it make if you thought of your current situation as an opportunity to grow you?