I have always wanted God’s blessings, but I acquainted blessing with the absence of pain. It has been pain that has caused me to understand there is no blessing without His presence, and pain has been the single greatest catalyst to a determination (discovered out of necessity–not choice) to live daily in his presence. It isn’t always pretty. Actually, it seldom is. However, I can say that in his is presence there is the fullness of joy. It didn’t come the way I wanted, and it doesn’t look the way I imagined, but in the end, God has given me what I wanted–his blessings, for there is no greater blessing than himself.
The Unexpected Benefit of Pain
