Blessings

These past two months have been difficult, with the death of a mom from our school who I consider a friend. As her health quickly declined mid-May, I became acquainted with a new song by Laura Story, titled Blessings. God has used this song during the last six weeks to minister to me and others who loved Kristi. When I heard that Laura Story would be coming to the Big Ticket Festival (a large, outdoor Christian music festival), I knew I had to attend and hear her perform this song in person.

I made it to the festival yesterday, although I was a little nervous after hearing reports of muddy conditions causing cars to get stuck the previous night. Since I was going by myself, I really didn't want to deal with a stuck car (especially a new car). The first blessing of the day was the fact that they moved most of the parking to the local airport lot and provided shuttles to the festival, so my car was fine. I was also blessed by the songs of many Christian artists singing songs I've heard on the radio and some new songs as well. This was a bonus for me because I was there primarily for Laura Story. It's an amazing experience to be in a crowd of thousands of people all singing praise to God together outdoors. But the biggest blessing for me to was to hear Laura Story relate the history of her song and sing it. As she began, tears began to roll down my face along with a whispered reminder that God is in control and has a plan for each one of us. I was further blessed by the opportunity to share with Laura afterwards how her song has ministered to me and others in my school community. (Of course I got teary again, so I'm not looking real great in the photo, but that's real life.)

This song is a good reminder that the difficult times in our lives, when we don't understand what God is doing (or allowing), bring us closer to Him. And whatever it takes to bring us to a deeper dependence on God can become a blessing.