Mercies in Disguise

Laura Story - Blessings

Well, Hannah has been sleeping pretty good through the night lately, waking up only two or three times between 8:30 pm and 6:00 am. The past couple of nights have been an exception, with her waking up every 30 minutes to an hour. Whenever Hannah wakes up, Heather and I both wake up as well. Heather just stays up the longest out of the three of us though.


Whenever Hannah wakes up, it's my job to get her out of her crib, and back into our bedroom. Meanwhile, Heather is mixing a bottle for Hannah, then feeds her until she goes back to sleep. The past few nights, I have had a particular section of the song linked above stuck in my head.


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? 

That last line is what really rings in. I've been wondering how not sleeping for going on three days now could be considered a blessing. Then it came to me. Fairly often Heather will ask if I can remember when Ethan was this little. The answer is usually no. In fact, a friend of ours had a baby a few weeks back, and we went to see little baby Alli before she was a whole day old. When we got there and I saw this tiny baby, I thought to myself, "holy moly, was Hannah ever this little, I don't think she was this tiny." In fact, Hannah was actually smaller at birth than Alli was, but I don't remember her ever being as small as Alli, and Hannah is five months old!


As I said earlier, I've realistically only slept about seven or eight hours in the past three days, and my wife has slept significantly less than that. Both of these things are a bummer. But even at 4:00am rocking Hannah in the living room, I look down at her, as she closes her eyes and drifts off to sleep. I see her in her true beauty, and am able to just look at her, and remember her in this stage of life. I look at this and realize that even though this may be an inconvenient time, it truly is a gift from God, a mercy in disguise.


Above and beyond this, we really do need to take a look at the negative things in our lives, and see how they could be used to fill God's purpose. One example would be one of my previous blogs, Missing Car Keys. I invite you to take a look at the things happening around you in order to find God working, and how to spread his love.


Amen.