Beauty in Heartbreak

I personally don't listen to the radio much. I'm the pickiest person I know about everything, so listening to someone else's playlist for hours that happens to play the same dozen (annoying) songs over and over and over again is understandably not up my alley. For those of you wondering, I find new music via Pandora, Slacker, and YouTube. No, I actually don't listen to the same stuff over and over and over again. I may be picky, but I'm not hypocritical.
But every now and then I'll drive somewhere with someone else, and they'll have the radio on, and I'll deal with it, because I'm polite like that.

I don't remember who I was riding with... I think it may have been my boss, but she was listening to one of the more interesting Christian stations in the area, and usually I don't pay much attention because, you know, you've heard them all a million times, they're not your style, etc., but all of a sudden, I heard this soft, quiet voice, and a new song. Big deal for me; I love new songs. I kept listening, and it was heartbreaking... but in a good way.

The song was by Laura Story, and it was called "Blessings".

After the song - I guess it had recently debuted - the DJ or whatever told the story behind that song, and just to make sure I got it right for this post, I researched it.
Laura's life was off to a great start: she was doing what she loved in ministry, recording, and had just gotten married. But then, her husband was hospitalized with a brain tumor. She wrote this song during that valley in her life, and there's parts in the song where I thought she sounded choked up and maybe even on the verge of tears. Understandable. (I think her husband lived... I'm not sure, though. If he did, it sounded like he was dealing with vision and memory problems afterwards, which could also have shaped the song.)

I feel like Christians expect their lives to be joyful and rosy all the time... and honestly, I think that's an extremely false thing to believe. I mean, when you ask God for patience, what does He do? He puts you in circumstances where you will have to develop it. He doesn't just give it to you. Not that He leaves you hanging; He helps you cultivate the fruit, but you have to lean on Him wholly.
I don't want to sound like I know Laura's life, but I bet she was praying for patience and love and joy. The difference between her reaction and most of our reactions, though, is that she had the wisdom and sensitivity to realize that sometimes the best things in life... hurt.
It's like when God prunes us: it hurts, but it's for our best.

Just like authors can't write love and pain unless they know it, you can't sing love and pain unless you know it.
Laura's been there, and she called it what it really was: a blessing.