Tunes Tuesday :: life isn't fair

Well this week I am away at CYWAL, and hopefully I will come back with some interesting and hopefully insightful things to share, but for now I have this lovely song to share with you all :)

(I chose this song a while ago, and then wrote something up last night (Saturday), and then while I was lying in bed last night, the line 'life will all make sense in the end' kept running through my head, and all I could think of was the sponsored kids at camp and how life wasn't fair. So I got up this morning and rewrote the post.)

"Life will all make sense... in the end"

Having just got to the end of OASIS week, one of the most awesome and exciting and exhausting weeks of my year, I seen just the tip of the ice burg on how life isn't fair. I live suche a blessed life, and when I come in to contact with the forty-or-fifty-some-odd sponsored kids who come to our camp, most of them from less than desirable situations, it makes my heart ache. 

Some of the kids don't have CD players because the little money their parents have gets spent on other things, often addictions. Many of the kids have broken homes, some with step-siblings on both sides. Some don't even get breakfast in the morning.

I was talking with some of the parents of my campers on the last day, ad the father of one of the kids in my group said something that made me smile gratefully, yet made my heart break for this little girl. He said, "I could see just by the way she was holding your hand, looking at you, and sitting on your lap that she really took to you. She doesn't get to see her mom too often, and I know that she really took to you. I could see you treated her real well and I appreciate it. She really took to you."

Another of the kids in my group, a little boy who I know was going home to a hard situation, came crying to give me a hug at the end. "I'll miss you," he said, making the tears begin to roll down my face. "I'll miss you too," I told him, holding him close. Then I sat him on my knee, looked into his beautiful eyes and tried my best to speak life into his little five year old life. "But ya know what William*? Even when I can't be with you, God is always with you. And He loves you! Before He even made the world He thought up all the people He was going to make and He thought up you. He thought up your beautiful smile, and your lovely eyes, and the way you laugh, and He said, I'm going to make William Bridges*, and so He did. And I'm so glad! He made you William*, and He loves you, and He will always be right with you." He started crying again, saying something about forgetting, and I reminded him of the scrapbook we'd made that week, with the Bible points and verses, and stories, and pictures. "And I'll pray for you," I promised, "every day." 

Life isn't fair. And I don't know why. Why is it that I have a wonderful family, with both parents and lots of siblings, and beautiful house, with always enough to eat, when there are kids in my own Canadian city who don't have any of that? It doesn't make any sense to me! But this song reminds us, that in the end, life will all make sense. We will see how God used all these messed up situations for His glory, to spread His love and lead people closer to Him. He doesn't like our pain, but He is with us throughout it, and He doesn't let it go for nought. I don't know why the little girl's parents are split and she doesn't get to see her mom, and I don't know why God is allowing William's* home situation to be hard, but He does, and we just need to trust. We know that Romans 8:28 tells us that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who are called according to His purpose.

Natalie Grant - In the End

Can't catch a break
You've had your fill of old clichés
Like "life is hard but God is good"
And even though it's true
It won't stop what you're going through
I wish that I could say it would

But He's outside of what you feel
It might not make sense
But one day it will

There's coming a day the sun will always shine
He's gonna wipe away every tear from your eyes
Hold on my brother, things are gonna better
You're gonna smile again
Cause we win in the end

Oh oh oh oh, oh oh oh oh oh, oh oh oh oh oh
Oh oh oh oh, oh oh oh oh oh, oh oh oh oh oh

You're standing still
Life has handed you a bitter pill
Once again you're on your face

You've got questions
Plenty of secret confessions
Wondering if you've run out of grace

But He's outside of what you feel
This life is just a moment
But our forever is sealed, oh yeah

There's coming a day the sun will always shine
He's gonna wipe away every tear from your eyes
Hold on my brother, things are gonna better
You're gonna smile again
Cause we win in the end

It won't be about streets of gold, pearly gates
Harps and wings, diamond lakes
All I know is that He's gonna hold you, hold me
Heartache will disappear
Questions will become clear
Life will all make sense in the end

Oh oh oh oh, oh oh oh oh oh, oh oh oh oh oh
We win in the end
Oh oh oh oh, oh oh oh oh oh, oh oh oh oh oh

There's coming a day the sun will always shine
He's gonna wipe away every tear from your eyes
Hold on my brother, things are gonna better
You're gonna smile again
Cause we win in the end

Oh oh oh oh, oh oh oh oh oh, oh oh oh oh oh
We win in the end
Oh oh oh oh, oh oh oh oh oh, oh oh oh oh oh

Glory, glory hallelujah
Glory, glory hallelujah
Glory, glory hallelujah
We win in the end

Glory, glory hallelujah
Glory, glory hallelujah
Glory, glory hallelujah
We win in the end
We win in the end 

I pray this song would bless you today, as you think about what it really means when it says, 'we win in the end', and 'life will all make sense in the end', because it is true, and even if we can't see it now, we will someday!
Prayers would be appreciated for all the kids who were at camp this past week, but especially for the sponsored kids.

Blessings!

love emma xoxo

*name changed