This week I was out on a shoot and it started to rain.? I took a calculated risk by going through with the shoot because I knew it was a possibility but didn’t think it was really going to happen.? Sure enough.?? It did.? On the way home from that shoot, I was thinking about storms and the way the light shines through.? While not a big fan of dark overcast days for photography, there is something to be said for the kind of light that exists when the clouds break and you get those sweet rays that just have a glow about them.? The shoot had its challenges.? At one point, we were all huddled under a tent (conviently placed for a local vendor) trying to dry off my little subject.?? During many of my shots, Tanner was standing over my back holding up an umbrella to shield my camera.?? At the end of the day, it all worked out and I loved what we managed to capture. ? It got me thinking though.? How many days of my past have I so fretted over storms that I could not find the light?? Convinced that the storms were coming to destroy and to take and to ruin.??Standing under the dark cloud crying bitter tears at what could or would be washed away.? ? This week when the rain started coming down at inopportune times, I reminded myself once again that crisis jumpstarts a dead imagination.? I gathered my wits and looked for my opportunities.? I didn’t panic and I didn’t “cry” over what would not be.? I embraced what was.?? ? I am not “there” yet folks but Jesus is gently leading me to such a different place than I have ever been before.? The kind of place where I can stand out in the rain and smile and say “what next Lord”?? And then I get to grin in delight as those sweet rays of light peek behind the clouds and I get to say “I knew you were there – hello!”?? ? My Abba does love me way too much to “give me lesser things”.? Never a moment when He isn’t on the throne.? As I learn to believe, really believe, transforming belief that uproots all that I am and makes me someone brand new, I see His blessings coming down – even and especially those that come in raindrops.?? He is my hope.

Laura Story – “Blessings” Lyrics

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 aching 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

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CSVqHcdhXQ