Count your BLESSINGS

Some days are better than others. Some days we don't think we can't take another bad thing and yet in the middle of it there always seems to be a blessing if we look close enough. Other days there is one blessing after another and we feel like our feet aren't even on the ground. On those days we are so excited and filled with joy!

I had one of those days full of blessings. I had a wonderful talk with a special lady that seemed to bless us both in ways that touched our hearts right down to where we have tucked our pain from the past. I had a chance to be a part of God's plan and deliver some needed news to someone who has been wondering about how someone perceived her over the years. I was humbled so much by the love of God when he would use me in such a special way. He orchestrated a chain of events that led me to getting to give some wonderful news to someone who needed it.  She was also overwhelmed by the love of God as this chain of events unfolded.

As the day went on I was so blessed by a young man who stepped up and said “I am sorry” for something he did that hurt someone close to me.  To watch him step up and take responsibility for something was a wonderful blessing. Later that night my son and husband sent me a text that they were driving straight through from Colorado. They would not make it a two-day trip like they had planned. They would be home about 3 am. I sat on my bed and praised God for my day. It was one of the best days ever. When I woke up that morning I had all my family under the same roof and that was the kind of blessing that warms my heart.

Not all our days are like that. There are those days like I spoke of before where we are so burdened. We wonder why is this happening and we ask, "Did you forget about me God?"  We think we can't go on. That is when we really need to count our blessings and sometimes we really need to look for them because our pain seems to have caused us to put on blinders. Blinders like a horse would wear. Can you see what I am talking about?  With those blinders all we see is the pain or burdens staring us in the eye. We miss the bigger picture of all that God is doing in our lives and the world around us when we wear the blinders of our pain. The blessings are everywhere; we just have to take of the blinders and look for them.  

Wait, I got ahead of myself. Let’s back this bus up a day or two. A few days before my son was to return from college I had one of those days where I was so full of pain and anger that I wanted to give up. I wanted to crawl under the covers and wallow in my anger. One thing after another went wrong and my kids were being hit from all directions. “Momma bear” (that’s me) over stepped her place trying to protect her son and I caused more problems. I sat crying my heart out. You know the kind of cry that is ugly. Snot bubbles and all. I was angry with God. My son was doing the right thing and time and time again at school, the sin of others were rewarded and my son was not rewarded for the grace he was showing those who wronged him. I was repenting for my anger towards God and as I crying about the pain my son was feeling, something became very clear to me.  I had to look beyond the bad stuff to see the good stuff. “The blessings” 

Psalm 17:8 says, Keep me as the apple of your eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings. We are the apples of God's eye. It was time to take off the blinders of my pain. In my little picture or cartoon brain as I call it, I saw a tree growing yummy apples. As apples grow they must ride out some storms. They are dirty when they are picked off the tree and some of them have the marks from the beatings of the storms. When we wash them and polish them and they are beautiful and yummy. As I looked at the situation from a different view and not from my pain and anger, I saw my son as the apple of God’s eye. I began to see that what my son was walking through was a storm of life but God’s hand was on him. Gently polishing him into a man of God, filling him with grace and Godly wisdom. It was then that I began to push past the hurt I was seeing Tanner endure. I saw God's hand and his blessings. I saw both my kids, standing firm in their faith and pressing in harder when times got tough. In that were the blessings. They were truly beautiful apples in God's eyes and he was gently polishing them to shine His love to others. I was thankful that God and shown me that about both Tanner and Hanna. As the day would unfold Hanna also get hurt by someone’s very harsh words that were an attack on whom she was.

As my daughter took that blow, my heart was broken again as I watched her deal with this new pain. She was ready to give and go against what she had tried so hard to stand up for. Broken from this, I pushed in and remembered my crying session with God earlier that day. I began to look for the blessings in this.  My husband and I prayed and we saw my Daughter soften and extend God's grace and forgiveness. The blessing was right there for all of us to see. It was in that pain I felt for my kids that would lead me into the amazing day I wrote about at the beginning of this chapter.

Looking back, that year my son had grown in great ways, he has pressed into God, found strength in him and he truly became a man of God. That blessing was staring me right in the face and the other things didn't seem that big. My daughter was standing firm in her faith and speaking life into her peers. I thank God for those blessings.

God knows we can only take so much in a day. It said that is why there are only have 24 hours in a day so that we can have a fresh start at the beginning of each new day. Wow, that is a blessing there. Each day is a new blessing, a fresh start and a gift from God.

I pray you will always count your blessings in the worst of times they are there. Sometimes we have to look a little harder when we are overwhelmed but God never fails us. His blessings are everywhere. Some days his blessing could be that we find the strength to get out of bed. Other days it is a sunset at the end of the day confirming to us that a new day is on the way. Remember to always count your blessings.

It is early in the morning as I write this, and my son and husband made it home about 3 am from my son’s first year of college. I can hear my kids down the hallway. My son has just awakened and is greeting his sister now that he is home. He tries to hug her and she says, "You probably smell.”  I laugh at her sisterly remark and see my son scoop her up in his arms and lift her off the ground as they hug. I add one more blessing to my life with that moment and I shed some tears of Joy.  Thank you God.

         

Please count your blessings!