Often the place of blessing is not our place of preference

Posted 5 days ago

“The reality here can be unsettling. Often God chooses to meet us with his blessing in a place we do not choose to be. He will bless us on the detour. He will bless us in the Land Between. Often the place of blessing is not our place of preference.”

– Jeff Manion, The Land Between

If I had a preference, I would not have chosen to go through 12 months of unemployment from March 2024 to March 2025. I did not like it when I had to go through it. But I can testify to the truth that Jeff Manion writes about in his book, The Land Between, which came up in my Readwise feed of Kindle highlights today.

I experienced an intimacy with God during that year that was born out of desperation. It is an intimacy unlike any I have experienced any other way. As I was forced to trust God with circumstances way beyond my control, it drew me close to Him. I have missed that intimacy over the past four months since I emerged from that trial. Not that I want to go through an experience like that again, nor do I want to invite a new trial to take its place. But I can step back and appreciate how I experienced blessing in a place that was not my preference to be in.

I also experienced the unexpected blessing of reconnection. I was able to travel back to Hungary just a month after I was laid off. While in Hungary, I got to reconnect with several relationships that I have with friends living there. One of them was with my longtime friend Laci. We had not lost touch but beginning with the time we spent together while I was in Budapest, we started communicating weekly. Much of that came because he was praying for me and would take time to reach out to see how I was doing. Or I would reach out to share how he could pray for me and that would lead to longer conversations on WhatsApp.

I was also able to reconnect with another friend during the year. Matt had discipled me in college. We have kept up with each other over the years with occasional Facebook comments or emails. Matt was one of the guys that I asked to stand by me through prayer last year. And that has led to some deeper conversations and more frequent conversations. Another unexpected blessing.

There are a lot of other ways that I saw God bless me during the year of trial. I am still amazed as I take a moment to pause and the remember. I did not choose the land between but I am so grateful for how God used it in my life to draw me closer to Him, teach me several lessons that I am still chewing on, and provide many unexpected blessings through those challenging months.