A man was shipwrecked on an island where no one else lived. He laboriously gathered some material from the island and built himself a crude house.

One day he was away from the house when he saw smoke rising from that direction. He rounded a bend and, to his horror, saw his house going up in flames. He fell to his knees and wept. He thought it was the worst thing that had ever happened to him.

Later that day, a boat sailed up to the island and rescued him from his isolated spot. They explained that they had seen the smoke rising in the distance and came to investigate. Instead of the house’s burning being a tragedy, it turned out to be the best thing that had happened to him since his shipwreck.

Don’t be too quick to conclude that something is bad. You never can tell what God might do with it in your life.