Blessings and Easter

It is Easter this weekend. To some it may mean a bunny hops by and leaves candy on your doorstep. To me it is the reason for my being. Jesus' death and resurrection, to save me {and you}, so that I may live with Him in eternity one day.

Upon thinking about that very fact, Jesus' death and resurrection, coupled with our Sunday message and the song that is on auto repeat in my car, Blessings by Laura Story. I am blown away by what God did for us and how truly selfish my mindset can be here on Earth. So hang with me while I pour out my heart and thoughts...

Here in our first world country, America, Heaven sort of is on Earth, you know?! We have it so good here, why on Earth would I want to leave this place, my family, my friends, my stuff...no where else, like Heaven, could possible be better right?! Wrong. Probably why third worlders live all out for God more, because they recognize there has got to be a better place than the life they currently live.

In the song Blessings, it took me a long time to fully understand this song. While I enjoyed pouring my heart out singing it, I would always wonder "how can blessings come in raindrops and healing come through tears?" It was one of those I "sort of" get it, but don't really. Why would God bring blessings in what seemed to be the form of heartache?

Recently, I have heard of 3 babies all in the last 2 months (3!) go home to be with Jesus. I mean holy cow, I am pretty sure that is not the sort of blessings, those families were looking for, yet from what I can see and read about, they are still praising God. Why? Because they are holding on to His promises.

What are His promises? {As spoken of by my pastor this Sunday}
1. You can trust Him! My pastor put it best, if you can trust God with your soul! then surely you can trust Him with your kids, your marriage, your money, etc. Wow. That blew me away, those things mean nothing in comparison to my soul! 

because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. ¹⁰ For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. Romans 10:9-10


2. There is enough room in my Father's house. There isn't a cap on who gets into Heaven. God wants us all there. Hell wasn't a place meant for humans, it was meant for Satan and his posse. All you have to do is call upon the name of Jesus and believe He did as the ultimate sacrifice for your sins.
In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. John 14:2

3. Jesus went to prepare a place for me {and you}. Here is where my selfishness gets real. Jesus told his posse {the disciples} that He was going to die, they didn't believe Him, I mean after all He is the King of Kings, He is the one that everyone in that generation had been waiting for. Early on in the week leading up to His death the disciples felt that this was going to be "it." The moment when Jesus would "take over," so to speak and assume His rightful place as King, that was their understanding. What they failed to understand was that Jesus isn't making His kingdom here, on Earth, He had to go and prepare it. His death and resurrection  was for US!

4. I {Jesus} WILL come back for you!

So yesterday when Blessings came on, I really heard this time, in light of what my pastor preached. Probably a good thing God gave me all green lights on my way to Target, because I was pretty absorbed in the message of this song. :) {My notes are in red}

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

{God loves us too much to give us lesser things...Jesus pleaded with God before his death, let there be another way, but there wasn't. Only through Jesus' death and resurrection could we be saved and have life with God one day, that is true love}

'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

{As if every promise wasn't enough--see above promises. It needs to be enough that He loves me, He died for me, and He is coming back for me. Everything else in this life is extra.}
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 that pain reminds this heart
That this is not, this is not our home
It's not our home
{I know that this isn't my home, and perhaps all the "trials" or sadness I may have is just a gentle reminder that I am not home yet...}

 
'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

{ God's biggest mercy in disguise, was giving up His one and only son, to be crucified on that cross for you and me. Can you imagine being there in person? Not just the horrificness of it, but thinking all you thought you knew and believed about what was to happen isn't? That this good man is being brutalized for nothing?! How sad you would have felt. But now we know WHY. To save us.}

If Christmas is our "rescue plan" put into action, than in my humble opinion Easter is God's love story for us. God loves you and wants nothing from you, but a relationship. There is nothing you or I can do to earn a ticket into Heaven we aren't good enough on our own. Jesus paid it all for us, He paid your way into Heaven, it is a free gift to any and all who will accept Him and what He did. I pray if you don't know Him that you will. If there is anyone out there reading this and wants to know more, I would be happy to do my best to direct you. {mkeethler{at}gmail{dot}com.}

Happy Easter! He is Risen!