Blessings

Wow! 25 years of marriage! Who would have ever thought that Mike and I would be married a quarter of a century? I guarantee you most did not! All I can say is our marriage is a testimony to how GREAT, FAITHFUL and AWESOME are heavenly Father is! He is the Great I Am! Nothing is too big or too great for Him to overcome! When we have Jesus living in us, we are directly in covenant with the one who can and the power that will conquer any and everything!

I guess because of this monumental occasion in our lives, I started to reflect on life, the good times, the bad, and the storms of life when I wasn’t sure what I would find the morning after. The day after our anniversary a dear friend who is going through a storm of her own posted the most beautiful song that puts everything in perspective for me. The song is Blessings by Laura Story. Here are the lyrics:

            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?

As I listened to this song I just wept! There was one day, May 18, 2007, I actually sat in an attorney’s office and discussed divorce. I cried and cried as I talked to the attorney. She looked over at me and handed me a tissue and said, “Honey, you really do not want a divorce.” I said, “But I can’t continue to live like this.” It wasn’t one storm; it was several, one after another. So many that all I could do was surrender to the Lord to survive. I did not have all of the answers but I knew the One who did. Somewhere in the mist of the storms, I began to trust God. Then it happened, I experienced an indescribable peace in the middle of one of the worst seasons of my life. I began my journey to the best thing that ever happened to me, my RELATIONSHIP with the one who created me for fellowship with Him! Slowly but surely Jesus redeemed our lives and our marriage as He the great Redeemer always will!

You know there is this saying, “All things happen for a reason” and I HATE it. I think people say it too much without realizing what it fully means and whether it evens applies to the situation. It is so over used for every little and big thing! I do not believe that everything bad and good happens in your life for a reason. I do believe that we live in a fallen world and that some of the things that happen to us are consequences of our choices, our sin. I believe that God uses everything that we go through to constantly draw us to him. God has intentionality for everything, even the bad things that we choose. I believe “that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” Romans 8:28.

With that said, this song made me realize that the most difficult season of my life turned out to be the best. It brought me to the place that I am now. A place where I know the Father loves me. He gave his beloved for me. Jesus willingly experienced every bit of my pain and more and paid my debt so that I could be in relationship with Him and the Father. So, even when I prayed for the pain to just numb a little and the situation to temporarily change so that I could just go on for the moment, He Yet love [me] way too much to give [me] lesser things! “Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen. Eph 3:20-21

He used every step of this storm to draw me and Mike closer to Him. We have a marriage that I truly never thought we would have. I never thought that one day we would actually pray together and have awesome discussions about God’s love and Jesus’ gift of grace! Mike and I know that we have “overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony” Rev 12:11. We know that the Lord gave us this awesome testimony so that we could help others! We are currently praying about just how and what way the Lord wants to use us to minister to other couples.

So do not be afraid or discouraged when the Lord uses “the aching of this life . .  [to reveal] a greater thirst This world can’t satisfy?”  

Blessings