Are you blessed?

Blessed…

Do you ever stop to consider what that means?  Have you ever truly stopped to count the breadth and scope of your blessings? Or do you instead often only wonder WHY God hasn’t blessed you more, or blessed you with what you’ve prayed for?

Today, take a few moments every hour to consider just how truly blessed you really are. 

Do you have food to eat?  Do you have the good health to eat that food? Some people have bad digestion, food allergies or medical conditions that keep them from eating the foods they’d like to eat, while others simply do not have food to keep their bellies from growling and feeling hollow with hunger.  Still others do not have the health to indulge in the simple act of eating by themselves, and instead must be fed by a caretaker or a feeding tube.   How many times have you taken for granted the simple act of eating?  Have you ever thanked God for blessing you enough to eat?   Also, consider what a miracle your digestive system really is – it is one of your fearfully and wonderfully made parts – just one – but without which you cannot function.

So you can eat… can you walk?  See?  Hear? Work? Think? Talk?  Each of these things – these tremendous blessings that we do not even notice until they’re gone – are a wonder in and of themselves.   Yet, we take these blessings for granted on a daily basis!  When was the last time you thanked God that you could see the sunset, feel the breeze on your skin or take a walk at the park?

If these daily blessings are not enough to make you feel blessed, consider where you live.  Do you have a home?  A bed?  A refrigerator stocked with food?  A bathroom with running water and a sewer system?   Have you ever considered how difficult your life might be without these things?

You may not have perfect health or the big, beautiful house that you’d dreamed of, but you have a set of blessings that God has bestowed upon you.  Do you give thanks for them?

And, consder the most wonderful blessing, the ultimate blessing, Jesus came and was a willing sacrifice so that YOU could be a child of God.  You could become royalty.  You could be washed of your sins and welcomed into the loving arms of your Father in Heaven.  This precious gift is beyond compare, beyond price, beyond any other blessing that you have ever received – and yet… have you ever really contemplated this blessing?  Have you given thanks?  Have you even accepted this gift?

Once you have this gift, you belong to the family of God!  NOTHING has to frighten you, or cause you anxiety and worry, or beat you down and defeat you ever again.   Now, before you start doubting and saying that I do not know what I’m talking about, let me tell you that I’ve had the most horrible year of my life.   I suddenly got sick, and this sickenss was like no other.  It attacked my nervous system.  I was so sick, I thought I would die.  I lost my ability to think, to walk more than a few feet, to remember, my vision was so bad I could not drive for long periods of time, I could not swallow anything but soft or liquid foods.   For the first time in my life, I was helpless.  I was crushed under these burdens.  If not for the Grace of God, I would not have survived.  If not for His perfect peace, I would have been lost, and nearly was when I did not accept this peace and allow Him to help me carry these burdens.  

The perfect peace that passes all understanding, the gift that comes with your membership in the family of God, is what will get you through anything this broken world throws at you.