Blessings

Life is filled with things you don’t expect, but the Bible tells us to respond by trusting God and continuing to worship Him. No matter what you are going through, God remains faithful even when things don’t turn out the way we expect them to.

Blessings

by: Laura Story - from the album 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 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 the 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

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

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

In God's Eye's

 "For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 8:38-39

What do you see when you look in the mirror? Do you see yourself through God's eyes or through the eyes of the world?  Do you see only your imperfections and pain? When people laugh at you, do you allow their opinions to color your self worth? Have you become hard and bitter? If you feel beaten down by the world, remember...in God’s eyes, there is no judgment, there is only acceptance. In God’s eyes, there is no pain too hard to bear nor weakness that can't be overcome.

I know what it is like to be laughed at. I have been sick all my life. One doctor actually said "when God put you together He didn't do a very good job." I wasn't physically, mentally, or psychologically good at sports, so I was always chosen last. I never understand the concept of taunting so I took all the remarks personally which made it even more difficult to relate. I was extremely thin 5' 6" and 98 lbs. Some how people seem to think it is not rude to make fun of you if you are thin. I didn't develop until I was 17 and in college. Horrifying when you are surrounded by voluptuous friends.

I have severe digestive problems which makes me very smelly. My stomach is more like a colon. It is long with a pace maker at each end. So when I eat food it just shoots it into my colon without proper digest. Plus I have Celiac disease and lactose intolerance. All these make tremendous amounts of gas. Funny with friends who love you...not so funny when you are a kid and have no understanding of what is going on...or in church with people who are suppose to be "loving." I have had the most awful things said to me in church.

After my husband left me I was devastated. I was so sick I had blood just pouring out of me. I went to church anyway thinking the fellowship would do me good. A guy near me said " my God no wonder her husband left her." I just wanted to crawl in a hole and die. Interestingly my friend who was sitting right next to me never smelled a thing. Somehow people who love me say they never smell anything. Maybe I am just reacting more to the people who have hateful spirits. My Pastor at the time said this man's smelly spirit was much worse than my smelly body. Anyway, after so many similar experience, I don't attend church anymore. Thankfully, I have a church that has online services.

I know I am not alone. Very few people have escaped the ridicule of others. We all have to face our own imperfections. When you are overwhelmed by the person you see in the mirror, see yourself through God's eyes. In God's eyes we are all the same. God sees you. God cherishes you. God loves you. God sees our light when all we see is darkness. God sees all our potentials. God sees this person who falls, but gives us the power to get up again and again. God sees our pain, but gives us the power to become a person who gets hurt, but does not become hard or bitter; only softer, more loving, more forgiving, more resilient to change.


Don't Laugh At Me by Mark Wills

I'm a little boy with glasses, the one they call a geek
a little girl who never smiles cuz I got braces on my teeth
and I know how it feels to cry myself to sleep

I'm that kid on every playground who is always chosen last
I’m the one who is slower than the others in my class
You don't have to be my friend but is it too much to ask

Don't laugh at me, don't call me names
Don't get your pleasure from my pain
In God's eyes we're all the same
some day we'll all have perfect Wings

Don't laugh at me
I'm the beggar on the corner
You pass me on the street
I wouldn't be out here begging if I had enough to eat
and don't think I don't notice that our eyes never meet

I was born a little different
I do my dreaming from this chair
I pretend it doesn’t hurt me when people point and stare
There’s a simple way to show me just how much you care

Don't laugh at me, Don't call me names
Don't get your pleasure from my pain
In God's eyes we're all the same
Someday we'll all have perfect wings

Don't laugh at me
I'm Fat, I'm thin, I'm Short, I'm tall, I'm deaf, I'm blind
Hey aren't we all

Don't laugh at me, Don't call me names
Don't get your pleasure from my pain
In God's eyes we're all the same
Someday we'll all have perfect wings

Don't laugh at me