I am blessed. SUPER duper blessed. I've got a loving family, lots of nice stuff, and I'm not going through anything incredibly disastrous at the moment. But that's not why I'm blessed.
God's blessings aren't just the comfortable stuff.
God's blessings are ANYTHING HE CHOOSES TO GIVE US.
Even the stuff we hate.
Even the circumstances that break our hearts.
And then, on top of those bitter blessings we are commanded to "give thanks in all circumstances." In fact, the Bible says that doing so is THE WILL OF GOD! Oof!
But sometimes God blesses us with situations that are REALLY uncomfortable. What about the consequences of sin? What about death? What about all the things that are heart-breakingly, excruciatingly HARD?!
Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. (1 Thessalonians 5:17-18)
But here's the beautiful part... It's not a command to give thanks and then be miserable. It's a command and a PROMISE!
Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it. (1 Thessalonians 5:23-24)
As we go through November and contemplate Thanksgiving, fielding those "Hashtag Blessed" people and navigating some legitimately hard things, we must remember who our God is: good, faithful, sovereign, and LAVISH in His love toward us.
If we can remember who God is, we will trust His hand when His blessings don't match our convenience or comfort.
If we can remember who God is, we can be truly THANKFUL both in and FOR the hard things.
Counting My Blessings Through November, Week 1
Originally shared via Facebook, 2021
#1: I am thankful for the blessing of migraines, for in them I recognize my weakness, and can better realize God's Strength.
I deal with migraines and, whoo boy, they are NOT fun. And I'm supposed to be thankful for them and see them as a blessing?
The practice of being thankful for discomfort is hard. Yet I have found that the more comfortable I am the less I remember how much I need Jesus. Perhaps that very fact is how I can be thankful with a volcano head...
#2 I am thankful for my dislike of housekeeping, for I am granted a daily opportunity to sacrificially serve my family.
Blessed ≠ always comfortable, but resting in the comfort of knowing that everything we go through is shaped by God’s good, wise, omnipotent hand, and is thus planned and purposed for our good and his glory. That’s worth being thankful for.
#3 I am thankful for my grief in the death of loved ones, as I can more deeply yearn for heaven.
Clarification: when God allowed death as a response to sin, His sovereignty was good… simply because it ushered his greatest glory, worked out his greatest plan, and, at the final battle will showcase his greatest victory. Death is God’s tool of separation. Separation from life, separation from the body, separation from God… And yet the fact that God ordains and delights to use even death for our good and his glory is in and of itself miraculous. And so, while I do not delight in death (it is our final enemy), I am appreciative of how the GIFT OF GRIEF retrains my focus, and for the hope I have that death itself will be swallowed up in victory. Death is still hard for me to understand, but in my lacking Jesus is sufficient.
#4 I am thankful for our car trouble, as it provided a means for others to bless us with transportation.
I remember being a new mama and refusing help from a sweet lady at church. Not because I was not in need of the help, but simply because I did not want to be seen as needy, nor did I want to impose on her. But this sweet woman put her hands on my shoulders, looked at me deeply with her soft, caring eyes, and said, “Don’t you dare refuse me of the blessing I will receive for being a blessing to you.“ That was the first time I had considered that in not allowing others to serve me I was actually hurting the body of Christ. Sometimes, being tired or needy is not about us at all. It’s simply the means for others to practice ‘one anothers’ Christianity.
#5 I am thankful for my inability to keep plants alive, for I better see Jesus growing a garden in my heart.
My secret talent is killing plants.
I love seeing green things (especially in Summer and Winter), I love the different textures and styles of foliage, and I love having living greenery inside the house. However, I have very little talent when it comes to keeping them alive.
For example, I have a basil start by my kitchen sink which is looking sad and dismal. And here’s the thing: I know exactly why it’s unhappy. It’s simply because I am not intentional in learning how to care for it, nor do I invest the time in doing so.
Now the gardenia on my porch, however, is an entirely different story. Geraldine the gardenia was a gift from a dear friend and out of love for her, and in honoring the love she had for that plant, I tend to that baby with the highest caliber of what I am able to do. I have researched soils, level of moisture, pruning, sun, etc.
The gardenia is thriving. The basil, not so much. And so I see that my passivity perpetuates pitiful plants.
But hallelujah that Jesus is not passive with my heart. He is intentional, skilled, and purposeful in every way he chooses to grow that garden within me. So as I watch my basil struggle, I will rest in the hands of my Good Gardener.
#6 I am thankful for having had Covid, as I now have more compassion on the sick.
To be honest, though, I struggled with being thankful in the MIDST of Covid. It was uncomfortable. But looking back, I see the beautiful way my family was able to serve me, and I in turn was able to care for my family when they were also sick.
There’s something beautiful about service to others, and that it joins your heart to theirs simply because you’ve invested in them.
So though illness in and of itself is not a “good“ thing, the fact that Jesus, in his perfect plan, perfect wisdom, perfect goodness, and perfect power ordained to bring our family to and through that time, in order to work his greatest glory and our greatest good and growth, IS good.
Part of that growth is in the beauty of empathy. We are called to “one another“ each other and often that necessary compassion is found in sharing similar grief and pain.
🌿The growing is hard, but the growth is good.
#7 I am thankful for our small income, as I am being trained to understand that which is truly valuable.
I’ve never had everything I wanted. But HAVE always had everything I needed.
I’m realizing more and more that, were my desires truly a need, Jesus would have already provided it. If I don’t have what I think I should have I can rest in knowing that I already have everything necessary to live before God in the purest, most glorifying way possible, and that, in my ‘felt lacking’ I am in the most opportune spot to grow more into the likeness of Christ.
My God will supply ALL my needs in Christ Jesus. And because my God is all-good, all-wise, and all-powerful, I can trust Him to fully know and fill those things which are truly needs.
When God refuses that which I desire He is merely refusing me lesser things. His best for me includes denying me anything that would rob me of His greatest gifts.
And so, as I rest in His perfect will, I can rest in His perfect provision.
(Reprinted from the backlogs of Social Media. As Jesus leads me to pursue a career in writing I am called to serve my readers with faithfulness and excellence. I have been stewarded with a sweet gathering of email friends, and to serve them well means I have the opportunity to strengthen my blogging skills as well as my Social Media presence. In that I am pulling my favorite Instagram posts, spiffing them up a bit, and sharing them here. For those who are receiving this post via email and would like to join my darling Insta family as well, you are invited to visit me HERE.)
