Blessings

Last Sunday at church Aleisha told her story, declared her faith and was baptised. Her courage and strength impressed many. Aleisha chose this powerful Laura Mixon song that we listened to after her baptism. I’d not heard it before:

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

And 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?
And 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

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?
And 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
And 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?

Laura’s ‘What if?’ questions asks are searching and powerful. We think we know best. We pray for good things – for health and happiness… but what if the best things in life come through sadness and suffering? What if God deliberately sends us difficulties and darkness because they’re good for us… and this is the route to health and happiness.

This morning I read the story of Daniel. When he was a teenager – like Aleisha – he was taken away from his home and family to serve an enemy king in a foreign country.  I guess he had his difficulties and darkness. Standing against the pressure to conform to the cultural norms his character and faith grew.

This morning I’m musing on Laura’s ‘What if?’ questions, praying… for friends, family… Aleisha, me… to see through the storms, tears and trials to God’s mercies and blessings.