Laura Story - What If Your Blessings Come Through Raindrops: A 30 Day Devotional

THIS BOOK GIVEN TO

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DATE

What if your Blessings
come through raindrops?

2012 Freeman-Smith, a division of Worthy Media, Inc.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, scanning, or otherexcept for brief quotations in critical reviews or articles, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
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The quoted ideas expressed in this book (but not Scripture verses) are not, in all cases, exact quotations, as some have been edited for clarity and brevity. In all cases, the author has attempted to maintain the speakers original intent. In some cases, quoted material for this book was obtained from secondary sources, primarily print media. While every effort was made to ensure the accuracy of these sources, the accuracy cannot be guaranteed. For additions, deletions, corrections, or clarifications in future editions of this text, please write Freeman-Smith.

Blessings 2011 New Spring Publishing (ASCAP) / Laura Stories (ASCAP). All rights for the world on behalf of Laura Stories administered by New Spring Publishing. All Rights Reserved. Used By Permission.

Scripture quotations are taken from:

The Holy Bible, King James Version (KJV)

The Holy Bible, New International Version (NIV) Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.

The Holy Bible, New King James Version (NKJV) Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission.

Holy Bible, New Living Translation, (NLT) copyright 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.

The Message (MSG)- This edition issued by contractual arrangement with NavPress, a division of The Navigators, U.S.A. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002-2003 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.

New Century Version. (NCV) Copyright 1987, 1988, 1991 by Word Publishing, a division of Thomas Nelson, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission.

International Childrens Bible, New Century Version. (ICB) Copyright 1986, 1988, 1999 by Tommy Nelson, a division of Thomas Nelson, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission.

The New American Standard Bible, (NASB) Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.

The Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB) Copyright 1999, 2000, 2001 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission.

Cover Design by Daniel McCarthy / Concept Culture
Page Layout by Bart Dawson

ISBN 978-1-60587-322-0

Printed in the United States of America

WHAT IF YOUR

LAURA STORY

A DEVOTIONAL BASED ON THE GRAMMY AWARD WINNING #1 SONG THAT HAS INSPIRED MILLIONS

Anyone who meets a testing challenge
head-on and manages to stick it out
is mighty fortunate.
For such persons loyally in love
with God, the reward
is life and more life.

James 1:12 MSG

Lyrics from the Grammy-nominated song

BLESSINGS

BY LAURA STORY

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
And 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 Youre 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 each promise from Your Word is not enough
And all the while, You hear each desperate plea
And long that wed 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 Youre near?
What if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise?

When friends betray us
When darkness seems to win,
We know that pain reminds this heart,
That this is 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 Youre near?
What if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise?

What if my greatest disappointments,
Or aching of this life,
Is the revealing of a greater thirst this world
cant satisfy.
What if trials of this life,
The rain, the storms, the hardest nights
Are Your mercies in disguise?

2011 New Spring Publishing (ASCAP) / Laura Stories (ASCAP).
All rights for the world on behalf of Laura Stories administered by New Spring Publishing. All Rights Reserved. Used By Permission.

The song Blessings is about just that: the redefining of blessings in my own life. As a child, I grew up hearing songs like God Bless America and saying the blessing every time we ate a meal. Although patriotic songs and mealtime prayers are wonderful, they may have conveyed a subtle message that was decidedly unhelpfulthey taught me that Gods blessings always arrive in the form of health, happiness, and prosperity.

But, where does that leave the other things that come into our lives? If I experience hardship or heartbreak, am I being punished? If my husband has poor health, is that a curse from God? Some may think so.

When my husband Martin was first diagnosed with a brain tumor, well-meaning strangers asked him if he had any unconfessed sin in his life, for surely God would not curse him for no reason. But the more my husband and I looked to Gods Word, the more we came to realize that sometimes God actually blesses His children through the absence of the very things they pray for.

Paul asked God to remove the thorn from His flesh; instead, God chose to teach Paul about a power that is only made perfect in weakness. Job deeply mourned the loss of his possessions and his health, yet he learned to worship God in the midst of his nakedness.

So how do I define blessings now? Im still not sure. Every what if of the song Blessings symbolizes a thousand questions God seems to have left unanswered. But this I do know: There is a depth of intimacy with God that can only be known through suffering. There is a reliance on Him that can only be experienced when everything else around my soul seems to give way. And if thats what it takes to make this stubborn child cling to that old rugged cross, you can have your prosperity.