Always the optimist, the class clown, the dreamer—I wasn’t prepared for the heartbreaks that reached me over the last few years. Heartbreaks that brought deep anxiety and depression, chronic nightmares, the loss of friendships, and many nights when I struggled to believe that God makes no mistakes.
I’m doing better, but when I heard this song for the first time, many memories came rushing back. Memories I wish I didn’t carry.
“Have you ever seen a mother cry when she lost her little boy?” I have. Just last year. “Or a mom and dad stand broken, for their son’s life has been destroyed?” I’ve seen that too. “Have you cried a river full of tears with an aching, broken heart?” More times than I can count.
If I were to describe how I’m doing today, I’d use the word “conflicted”, because life can be deeply heartbreaking, and yet God remains good. Much of the good I enjoy today came through heartbreak I never would have chosen. If I could change the heartbreak, I would—but if I did, I would lose the good that grew from it.
Knowing that many of you share the desire for this song to be true while not always feeling that it is, I sing it along with you from a heart that is learning, day by day, to trust the words, “God makes no mistakes.”
Pastor Johnny Chae
Heritage Baptist Church
Corpus Christi, TX