Does this look like a furnace to you?

Wow, look at that traction! In spite of a crunched hood, it's climbing a mighty steep grade! (Yes, someday I will learn how to rotate photos, or else take them with my phone so they're right side up!)
So, back to the question of the moment - does that image to the left look a furnace? Well, it is. Use your imagination - three years ago, we knew we needed a new furnace some time soon. Last January, the point was brought forcefully home when our furnace conked out. Patched together, it limped through the rest of winter, but would not survive another season. (The solemn sound of "Taps" plays in the background.) Sadly, we did not have a furnace fund. We began praying for help to get a furnace to get us through the upcoming winter. Then our son was in a non-life-threatening car wreck, totaling this car and bringing in enough money for a new furnace.
This whole thing reminds me of "The Monkey's Paw" by W.W. Jacobs. What? You didn't read "The Monkey's Paw?" Why not? Oh, all right, you really should read it, but basically it is built around a mummified monkey's paw that grants wishes... at a price. In order to bring about wealth, loved ones die, generating high life insurance payments. It's creepy good. You should read it on a cold winter night. Go ahead. I dare you.
We're glad it was only the car that had to die so we could be warm this winter.
So what about you? What potential disaster has turned into a blessing in your life?