When everything was falling apart these past 8 months as we lived out of suitcases,
I kept thinking of a Chinese proverb I’d read as a teenager—
“塞翁失马，焉知非福”🐎
When the old man loses his horse — who knows it might be a blessing?🎠
The story goes—
When an old man’s horse ran away, everyone pitied his bad luck.
But he simply replied,
“How do you know this is bad?” (焉知非福)
Days later, the horse returned, with several beautiful wild horses.
When everyone congratulated him, he said,
“How do you know this is good?” (焉知非祸)
Then his son fell riding one of the horses and broke his leg. While people mourned for him, the old man asked,
“How do you know this is bad?”
Soon, war came.
All the young men were deployed and died at battle.
But because of his son’s broken leg, his son was spared.
Only then did everyone understand—
what looked like misfortune had been mercy all along.
⸻
Sitting at the verandah of our new home, I remembered the anguish we held—
The home opportunities we prayed so hard for had fallen through.
Our car broke down the first day we returned.
We lost help we desperately needed to move — through others’ entitlement.
But if we hadn’t lost,
we would never have found this home.
If things hadn’t broken, help been taken away,
we might never have discovered who would show up for us.
This home was originally agreed to someone else. But unfortunate events changed the landlord’s mind twice, and in that small window of uncertainty, he found our family days before our departure.
This weekend, as our family gathered around the table —
One of my girls said softly—
“This is my favorite home of all our homes, Mummy.”
And I realised something—
Everything I was so afraid to lose- peace, space, stability… had all been restored to us — but in ways that met us even more deeply.
I’m learning—
While we experience moments —
God writes stories.
While we feel the wind.
He holds our anchor.
“God is good, Mama. He makes even the bad things work for good.”🎠
If you are walking through a rough season, I hope you’ll know —
Your story is still being written.💛