“Blessings through raindrops...”

"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?"
-

My friend, Lauri, told me about this beautiful Laura Story  song, "Blessings"  yesterday afternoon.  She said that it had been shared as part of her church's worship service on Sunday.  She thought that it might resonate with me.  Might?  Oh my goodness, it resonates with me very deeply -- so much so, that I was almost rendered speechless. 

I'd already prepared a post for today. I'd waited to post it after picking up the girls from soccer, getting dinner, baths, laundry, and then returning office calls. Just beforehand, though, I thought I'd listen to the song Lauri had suggested.  "It had me at hello…" From the first verse, that other post was put on the back burner.

Have you ever felt like you've prayed all night for answers, and all you've heard were more questions?  That you've slept on your knees and woke not comforted, but with an even more despairing hunger -- one that kept you waiting all the next day?  Has your your heart ever been shattered, and in the shards you've discovered tear-honed treasures of sea glass -- more precious than diamonds? Then this song may touch you as deeply as it did me. It has reached itself into the deepest place of my being, and wrung out the availing tear.  

One of my favorite statements, by Mary Baker Eddy, took tangible form for me, when I listened to Laura's powerful message.  It is from Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, and reads:

"The very circumstance
which your suffering sense
deems wrathful and afflictive,
Love can make an angel
entertained unawares. 
Then thought gently whispers,
"Come hither…"

Love is calling us closer.  Calling us closer to that very circumstance which a suffering sense -- of life and being -- would deem -- perceive -- as wrathful and afflictive.  

Sometimes, just being reminded of this promise, is all I need to "not run." To stay on my knees as long as it takes. To let the storm clouds gather. To see the lighting flash. To wait until I can actually feel the rain on my face -- feel Love's presence soaking into my being.  To fell the love of God right then and there - in that very moment, in that very place. 

My "home" is not in a space of my own imagining. I am not its builder, decorator, or protector. My home is God's. I trust His design. I trust His purpose. I trust that He occupies my "home." That He is with me. And wherever He is -- and He is everywhere, at all times -- thatis my home.

I have typed out Laura's lyrics below. They were my prayer last night. They have been my prayer today. 

Thank you Father for your blessings. Especially the ones that come through raindrops and tears...

"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 is 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.

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?

When friends betray us.
When darkness seems to win.
We know that 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?
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?
What if trials of this life...
the rain, the storms, the hardest nights...
are your mercies in disguise?"

This message embraces the sweetness of a salvation-based spiritual journey. A wakefulness that weeps with Christ in Gethsemane. A trust that stands with him -- braced by Love -- expecting the kiss. An unwavering courage that  faces Pilate, walks with him through jeering crowds along the road to Calvary. A love that watches with his mother at the cross and rises early to bring him fragrant, sweet spices in the tomb -- only to find the promised resurrection.

For me, this is an Easter song. It sings of hope that is deathless. Of resurrected joy -- not in spite of our trials, but found within the Love-perfumed folds of the burial cloth. As long as we think our peace is dependent on human conditions, we are never truly at peace. To discover that God is with us on the cross, in the garden, at our breaking point -- is to know a peace that passeth understanding. A joy that none can take away.

Here is a video clip with Laura Story as she explains her journey in writing  this song. Easter blessings to you and yours.   

Thanks Lauri, for sharing this song with me. You were right, I do love it -- very, very much.

with Love,

Kate