This week...
... a baby boy was born prematurely and was missing three fingers.
... my friend had to remove herself and her children from their home because her husband can't control himself when he drinks.
... my uncle had a gun held to his head and was robbed of money which was to be used to build camp facilities in Brazil.
... I stumbled upon the
blog of an old high-school friend who recently lost his wife to a brain tumor. He is left to raise two small children while trying to trudge through his own grief.
JUST THIS WEEK.
I don't mean to sound morbid, but we live in a sick, broken world. It's almost too much to bear. And I'm sure that those of you reading this could probably make your own similar lists.
So how come I still believe that
GOD IS GOOD and that
GOD IS LOVE? I'll tell you. (Well, not I technically.) There is a rather new song on the radio and I can't hear it without crying. The lyrics are perfect. The melody is beautiful. It's by
Laura Story, a woman who has lived through some very difficult times herself. It's called...
Blessings
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.
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 achings 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?
God is good...ALL THE TIME. Do you believe it?
Sierra is really developing a pretty good swing ... and she has a nice grunt to go with it! :)
My kids (and their friends!) are really into the recent animated kids movie about a couple of blue macaws set in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. So much so that we not only bought the DVD, but also the soundtrack! I love it because several of the songs are in Portuguese and they have a fun Brazilian beat. So - the other day when the kids were having a play date they were dancing around the living room acting like birds and then got the notion of making bird costumes for themselves. I pulled out the blue construction paper, scissors and glue. They worked SO HARD and I think that the outcome was pretty cool. They had everything from beaks to wings and tail feathers. 
What would compel two tired mamas to wake their five slumbering wee ones, skip breakfast and all regular morning routines, buckle them into their car seats and drive to downtown Boise at dawn?! The Spirit of Boise Balloon Classic, that's what!
