Blessings Come Through Raindrops

I wanted to share this experience to help me remember who is in charge and that it will all work out.

Yesterday Derek and I went out while Elizabeth took some friends to a Church dance.  As we talked Derek again voiced his concern about Elizabeth and her testimony.  I championed Elizabeth and reminded him about how she knows the right answers, how nice she is becoming, and how when she was younger and we were worried about her testimony I played a song for her, Blessings, and how we both were in tears by the end of the song.  (As the song finished I felt that I should stop worrying about Elizabeth gaining a testimony.  That Heavenly Father knows her heart, that He has a plan and that someday she will know the truth for herself.)  With this reminder Derek was somewhat pacified and we went on with the evening.

After getting home Derek went to bed and I waited for Elizabeth's friends to be picked up.  I began to clean the kitchen and wanted to turn on a Christmas Romance but instead opted for a biography on Pres. David O. McKay.  Elizabeth was sweet and began cleaning with me and we started to talk.  Our discussion went all over the place and then turned to the gospel.  I listened for a long time.  I kept wanting to give analogies and advice but instead just listened.  She talked of how she does not believe in a God.  Someone who would let terrible things happen, who doesn't answer her when she asks, who doesn't seem to care.  She doubts the Church and her greatest worry is that if she decides to leave the Church she will be a constant disappointment to her family.

Wow! that got me thinking and praying.  Again, I prayed but did not feel that trying to "prove" to her was the right answer.  I question why she has not gotten an answer, has she already gotten one and is choosing to not see it as an answer?  Is it just not the right time for her?  Is God waiting?  As I asked these questions again I felt that I need to let God do His thing in His time.  That I need to have faith that It will all work out.

This morning as I continued to pray and ponder I turned on my Church Music Channel on Pandora.  The second song that was played was, Be Still My Soul, this is the song I always turn to when I need my heart calmed.  One song later was the song I had listened to with Elizabeth, Blessings, and then a couple of more songs and the song Sometimes He Lets it Rain, another song close to my heart.  All three of these songs are go to for me when I don't have answers and need God's support and here they were right there, to me that was a miracle and a voice of comfort, to trust the Lord and have faith that It will all work out.

I then ran across a letter to me from my Aunt Jean she says, "What a beautiful mother you are!  How few there are that are willing to do as you are doing now as it is the hardest job in the world!  It requires both body and soul!  It will stretch you in ways you just know you were never meant to stretch, but you will come from it so changed and so refined and so capable of loving.  And you will have contributed so much to the world through your efforts."  

As I read this I was impressed to realize that Elizabeth's doubts are a trial for me.  A trial to let the Lord be in charge and to trust His plan.  I do put my trust in Him.  I have faith in Him and His plan.  I look forward to the day when Elizabeth will be able to trust Him too.

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 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
As long as we have faith to believe

When friends betray us
When darkness seems to win
We know that pain reminds this heart
That 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

Sometimes He Let's It Rain

She sees the storm clouds gather
The sky is turning cold and gray
She knows that something's coming
When she starts to feel this way
She pleads for intervention
But heaven offers no relief
And she would understand if she could only see that

Sometimes He lets it rain
He lets the fierce winds blow
Sometimes it takes a storm
To lead a heart where it can grow
He can move mountains of grief
And oceans of pain
But sometimes he lets it rain

When her heart surrenders
To the Master in control
Her spirit learns the lessons of the tempest in her soul
When it's no longer raging
She can see how far she's come
Through the wisdom and the mercy of the Son

Sometimes He lets it rain
He lets the fierce winds blow
Sometimes it takes a storm
To lead a heart where it can grow
He can move mountains of grief
And oceans of pain
But sometimes he lets it rain