blessings

there is a song that i have heard on the radio frequently as of late. it is a song that has a lot of meaning to me... laura story (the woman who wrote and performs this song) wrote these lyrics out when they found out her husband had cancer. each of us have unique struggles we go through and fight... i had an "in your face" reminder this weekend of how varied (and sometimes traumatizing) the struggles of this life truly can be... and how different they are for each one of us. there's this common thread, though, that links all of us, regardless of how insane and dysfunctional the problems of life may be... we all want peace in the midst of the storm. i like this song, because it refocuses our thoughts... what if... what IF... that peace we so greatly crave actually comes BECAUSE OF the storm we are in? what if it is that atomic bomb that seems to go off on a cyclical manner--the things that happen that are so completely out of our control, when someone pushes every single button you have all at once (and then you wonder if they are trying to actually push you off a cliff...)--and these things that are too fantastic to end up in the movies because the are so real, they are so raw... what if that's what it takes, to draw closer to God? i don't know one person who would jump up and down, wildly waving their arms, screaming, "oh yes! sign me up for that! please! right here i am!!"... in reality, we're too busy looking for something sturdy to hide beneath when the proverbial smut hits the fan... yet on the same note, i've met countless people who have come out the other side of having their lives completely wrecked, almost beyond recognition... and there's a peace that is completely indescribable in human terms. in those moments--the ones we will NEVER choose for ourselves, but God so graciously gives (because He gives grace to the humble... chew on that thought for a bit)--that's where we see God so clearly, so brilliantly... this is part of what makes God so fantastic and unbelievable... in the hardest moments of life that we try so desperately to hide from everyone, that's where we see Him shine the most...

so... what are your blessings?

Blessings, by Laura Story

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
And 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
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

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