Mark Twain’s words certainly are fitting for the 2016 Stewart’s Creek High School commencement program, at least for my granddaughter. Courtney, my youngest grandchild (and only granddaughter) decided near the end of school last year she did not enjoy high school and was going to do whatever it took to be able to skip her junior year and graduate an entire year early.
She enrolled in an online class to see if she liked that method of learning. She did not. So she went to school five days a week—all summer long. She made it.
This past week was a whirlwind for her as she was busy taking exams, going to graduation rehearsal, attending “praise band” practice, running errands, and hanging out with friends. She was even late for her own party because her boss forgot to give her off. She was a little late, but she made it.
That is the most important thing, isn’t it… She made it.
Courtney was ready to enter the world about a month before her actual birth date, but the new house was not ready. Her mom said to her (in the womb), “Momma needs you to give me a few more weeks so I can get your room ready for you.” She made it.
Courtney was about nine years old when her mom was divorced. Every week she moved back and forth, essentially living out of a suitcase. It was not easy, but she waited until she could drive to live with her mom full-time. She made it.
On more than one occasion, at school Courtney experienced the most painful kind of challenge: immaturity, unkindness, disrespect, and outright cruelty. She made it.
On graduation day, she sang with the praise band and church including a solo. We were all packed like sardines into that pew. Most of us (including Courtney!) had more than one tear as she sang Laura Story’s song, Blessings:
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
And all the while, You hear each spoken need
Yet love is way too much to give us lesser things
‘Cause what if your blessings come through rain drops
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
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
And all the while, You hear each desperate plea
And long that we’d have faith to believe
‘Cause what if your blessings come through rain drops
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
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
‘Cause what if your blessings come through rain drops
What if Your healing comes through tears
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
What if trials of this life
The rain, the storms, the hardest nights
Are your mercies in disguise
Courtney knows more than many seventeen-year-olds about blessings that come through rain drops, healing through tears, sleepless nights, and mercies in disguise…
It is a blessing that we can all look back and say to her, “YOU MADE IT.”
So very proud of you, Courtney. Gampie and I love you to the moon and back!
