perhaps a better term would be a path.Throughout life many things happen for a reason.Certainly,not everything has to be a part of some great agenda.
But at times,one "knows" that there is a lesson here (perhaps from previous action),or in the end "it may work out better"later on that i did or did not buy that,take that course of action,go down that PATH,take that job,whatever.
Sometimes there is a hardship from an incident that leads to a better result longer-term...