Blessings

     A few days ago, a student e-mailed me a new song, asking if we could work on it during her next lesson.  The lyrics immediately caught my attention:

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
 --Laura Story, "Blessings"
     
     In the song, the author presents a different view from the perhaps more widely accepted associations that come to mind when we ponder blessings -- wealth, good health, freedom from pain, peace, protection, wisdom.  She asks us to consider that perhaps when the Lord puts us through pain, He is in fact seeking to draw us closer to Him and that this is the biggest blessing of all.  Note that she does not state praying for good gifts is unacceptable in the Lord's eyes; rather she assures that He hears, and responds to our pleas with  "yet love is way too much to give us lesser things."   

     The song closes with with this final thought:

What if my greatest disappointments,
Or the aching of this life,
Is the revealing of a greater thirst this world can't satisfy.
What if trials of this life,
The rain, the storms, the hardest nights
Are your mercies in disguise?

        This longing for heaven would not permeate our hearts, if our lives here on earth now would be completely satisfactory in every sense and we would never experience pain or suffering.  This is thought-provoking and indeed, a challenging notion to ponder, because most of us wouldn't shout out, "I'm so blessed to struggle every month to pay the rent," me included.      

       Last night, I read the narrative behind Laura's song on her website and was not entirely surprised to learn that she herself had wrestled with these very thoughts during her husband's cancer diagnosis, and subsequent treatment.  When prayers seemed in vain and he remained unhealed, she turned to the Lord and questioned what we call blessings. 

      I turned to my own life and realized I too have many times questioned God's goodness in this same area.  Over the years, I have learned that falling into the pity party pit is a destructive hole indeed; however, how many sleepless nights have I spent crying out and wondering if God is really there and if He is, why wouldn't He wish to heal me, since I firmly believe He is able to?   I have also occasionally paused to consider if those who have never felt pain would be able to empathize with the rest of the world, and if they are truly happier people.  Many greater thinkers than I have written on the subject of unanswered prayer and why the Lord allows suffering and I don't seek to address them all here -- rather, I turn back to Laura's song and our notion of blessing.  I am grateful for the affirmation that it is indeed okay to question and wrestle for a redefinition of the word beyond that of physical comforts and I admit there is so much truth in the concept that through tears, we grow in our character, led to reach out not in our own strength, but beyond that, as we draw nearer to God.  

     By the way, I highly recommend Laura's music, so go look for her on itunes!