Arizona Summer, no AC, a blessing?

 
Monday afternoon I was having a tough time with the heat only to find out that it was not me, it really was in the high 80's in my house. We checked the breakers and decided to call our AC guy. He said he would be out the next morning (it was around 7:00 pm). We decided with the kids in bed that we would just open the windows and pull out a couple of oscillating fans (that we keep handy for out-of-town guests). We survived the night, but Tuesday, my birthday, morning greeted us being less than restful. I called a friend, Becky, whom I had plans with her kids that morning and explained our situation. She welcomed us over for the morning and all day if needs be. The kids were thrilled, I was relieved (my patience dwindles in heat). So we had an in-town vacation at their house. I came back around 9:30 and slept until the AC guy got here. He checked it out and a valve had broken. He said he would replace it (it was still under warranty) and be back later that day. I asked him about something else that our AC was doing (tripping the fuse a lot) that did not seem connected, but was still concerning. He agreed that was a problem and said he would check the electrical after he fixed the valve.

He came back that evening after getting the part and checked the electrical. He said that it was the fuse that needed to be replaced. He said he could charge the $275 to change it, or he could show us what to do and we could do it. It was rather basic and took about 5 minutes to do once we bought the part (which was $8.50). So know we know how to change those fuses and saved $260, plus he said that it was damaging the AC unit and was 'just a matter of time' before it broke the AC.

So while I would not volunteer to have no AC for two days, it helped us to find a problem that was really easy to solve with a little direction from someone who knew more, and saved us major repairs (think a long the line of x $1000) in the long run. I can't help but apply this to trials, God, and how he teaches us. I look back at trials and the ones that I opened myself up to learning I have been able to not only fix that problem, but have had valuable other lessons learned which saved me major grief in the long run. So often we hear people complain about trials, we rarely hear about those lessons learned from them and the blessings that always accompany those trials!