Blessings In Disguise (Trina Agee Cornell)

Trina is one of my heroes! We have been on many mission trips together in Honduras and I've grown to love and admire her. She's such a wonderful example, WCS has tried several times to persuade her to teach for us. Trina is a newlywed and teacher in St. Louis. I was blessed to stay with Trina and her husband, Bob, when I spoke in St. Louis last fall. This is the first of several messages she will share on this site! Pray for me as I begin my mission in Vietnam!

"We pray for blessing,
We pray for peace,
Comfort for family, protection while we sleep.
We pray for healing, 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."

Driving down the highway this fall, I heard these words for the first time, played on the local Christian radio station.  These words come from the song "Blessings" by Laura Story.  When people think about blessings, they think about the good things The Lord has done - the ways He has guided them - and the plans He has for them.  We know He listens to every word that we utter - and even those we cannot form.  We do not always think about the process - the ways in which God chooses to bless us.  As the song continued, my perspective changed.

CHORUS:
"'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?"

The Lord does not always hand down His blessings freely - sometimes, we have to face the trials of this life before receiving God's true intended blessings. James 1:2-4 tells us to "count it all joy" when we face the tough times ahead, because we develop perseverance along the way.  It was not until later this past year that I fully understood the concept presented in the chorus of this song.

"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 we'd have faith to believe."

In the two years I have worked as a teacher in my new hometown, I have challenged myself, and my students, in ways I could never have imagined.  I got out of my "teaching comfort zone" to provide enriching and engaging learning experiences for my students.  In March of this year, I found out that, due to unforeseen circumstances, that I would not be needed to teach the next year.  Thus began the process of finding a new teaching job.  This was hard news to take, but I knew that The Lord was in control, and that He would be there with me through this process.  Little did I know the amazing ways in which God would bless me - through the "raindrops" that fell upon my head.

"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 the trials of this life,
the rain, the storms, the hardest nights
are Your mercies in disguise?"

After months of applications and interviews, The Lord remained faithful, and has blessed me with a new position in a wonderful district.  On the day that I received this news, my family and I went to a famous theme park in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee - Dollywood.  As we went through the different areas of the park, we came across a building with a quote from Dolly Parton:

"If you want the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain."

The Lord blesses us through the raindrops of this life - it is up to us to see the blessings in disguise.
-Trina

God bless,
Steve
luke 18:1
www.hawleybooks.com
E-mail me at steve@hawleybooks.com