The Blessing in Counting the Blessings

This year started out with some giant changes for me. I had some pretty serious life disruptions the year before and as a result, things were different. I had relinquished my hold on things I thought were my ticket to joy and feeling successful. I had begun a strict eating regimen to help me reduce inflammation and hopefully, pain. In the midst of these major changes, I came face to face with something I'd been blind to: I am blessed. 

It's not that I didn't know I was blessed. For instance, I knew for sure that others have much bigger problems than I was facing. I knew that we had a great family, a nice home, a good income, food on the table and good health. I knew it and knew it was a blessing. The problem is that I was behaving as if none of that were true. I felt deprived in certain ways. I was in physical and emotional pain. I wanted some kind of more, but I didn't know in what way. And then there's the fact that I felt guilty for wanting more. I felt undeserving of any kind of more. And so, even though I was (am) enormously blessed, I was living a life that suggested otherwise.

One day I was talking on the phone with a caring friend. She knew some of my hurdles and struggles and provided a good ear as I sorted some things out. Isn't that what friends do? Sometimes all you really need is a caring friend who will listen and still love you. Lots of patience and forbearance.

The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience (forbearance), kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Galatians 5:22-23

In the course of that conversation, I came to realize how very blessed I am. I had laid aside something that had brought me great pleasure, a measure of success and lots of ego strokes. I felt insecure without it. I wondered how I'd manage. But in the moment with my friend, I felt the balm of Gilead the Bible talks about, a great soul soothing, a sense I would be o.k. and the secret was to be found in the simple adage of count your blessings.

As a result, I ended December focusing on the wonderful things of life God had brought my way. And in my relinquishing of some things, I started seeing how God was going to use me in new ways. That was exciting. Rolling into January, I chose a word to focus on for the new year. The word is

B   L   E   S   S   E   D

I decided to look all around me all year and see the good. Embrace it. Even "bad things" are good, actually. I know it's hard to believe me, but think about it. We build emotional muscle in hard times. We dig deeper. We learn new strengths. God's word says, "Do not be anxious for anything, but in every situation, with prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God, and the peace of God that transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus" (NIV, Phil 4:6,7). There are blessings in stress. 

I don't know exactly how to say it. All I know is that when we look for the blessings, we discover how blessed we are...and that's a blessing.