Note: I came across this while reading one of Mr. Spurgeon’s sermons in which he dealt with the subject of NEEDLESS ANXIETY; his text was Matthew 6:33. The story he related happened toward the end of the reign of “Bloody” Queen Mary, who had many of the saints of God burned at the stake. - Jim Byrd

    We do not know what is best for us. It is sometimes very much better for us to suffer loss and disappointment than to obtain gain and prosperity. When that eminent servant of God, Mr. Gilpin, was arrested to be brought up to London to be tried for preaching the gospel, his captors made mirth of his frequent remark, “Everything is for the best.” 

    When he fell from his horse and broke his leg, they were especially merry about it; but the good man quietly remarked, “I have no doubt that even this painful accident will prove to be a blessing.” And so it was; for, since he could not travel quickly, the journey was prolonged, and he arrived at London some days later than had been expected. When they reached as far as Highgate (north of London), they heard the bells ringing merrily in the city down below. They asked the meaning, and were told, “Queen Mary is dead, and there will be no more burnings of Protestants.” “Ah!” said Gilpin, “you see it is all for the best.” It is a blessing to break a leg if life is saved by it. How often our calamities are our preservatives! A lesser evil may ward off a greater.