One of my new favorite songs is Laura Story's song - Blessings. I'm going to post the lyrics and then talk about them! The song is SO true and Laura's voice is beautiful!
We pray for blessings, we pray for peace
Comfort for family, protection while we sleep
We pray for healing, for prosperity
We pray for Your mighty hand to ease our suffering
All the while, You hear each spoken need
Yet love us way too much to give us lesser things
Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops?
What if Your healing comes through tears
What if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You’re near?
What if trials of this life
Are Your mercies in disguise?
We pray for wisdom, Your voice to hear
We cry in anger when we cannot feel You near
We doubt Your goodness, we doubt Your love
As if every promise from Your Word is not enough
And all the while You hear each desperate plea
And long that we'd have faith to believe
Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears?
What if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You’re near?
And what if trials of this life
Are Your mercies in disguise
When friends betray us, when darkness seems to win
We know the pain reminds this heart
That this is not, this is not our home
* It's not our home *
Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears?
And what if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You’re near?
What if my greatest disappointments
Or the aching of this life
Is the revealing of a greater thirst
This world can’t satisfy?
And what if trials of this life
The rain, the storms, the hardest nights
Are Your mercies in disguise?
I can 100% say that all the times in my life that were hard and grueling were the ones that stick out the most when I look at my past. Yes, they stick out because they were hard. However, they stick out the most because that is where God grew me and turned me more towards him and away from this world. The second paragraph says that He loves us way too much to give us lesser things. Sometimes I think that everyone believes that following God will give them prosperity and all the things they want. I don't think we (myself included) realize that God's ways are above our ways. Something we might view as difficult or a bad lot in life just might be a blessing. We can't always see how situations are gonna play out. We don't trust God with that future whether it is great or not. I personally didn't trust the Lord for awhile when I found out we were moving from Michigan. I couldn't see that beyond my selfish desires there might be something God had for me down here. As I look back over the year I've been down here I can describe NUMEROUS times of God's grace and placement of me where I needed to be. See, God DOESN'T give us lesser things. Alot of times the hardship IS the better thing for us whether we see that or not. What do y'all think? Have hard times changed you and drawn you closer to Jesus?
p.s. here's the link for the song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4mmgV6mPvb0
~morgan
