Freebie: Every blessing He pours out

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I love this song. It might be one of my favorites. It always a great reminder to praise the Lord for EVERY blessing he gives us. This is sometimes so easy to forget to do. That word “every” really gets me.

It’s so easy to praise God for all of the “good” blessings that He has given me. So often I find myself thanking him for the beautiful things in my life. “Thank you for my boyfriend, thank you for my amazing job, thank you for the great weather today…” But this is not what His commandment is. His commandment is to praise him for EVERY blessing. It took me a while to understand this. I didn’t view negative things in my life as blessings. I didn’t view the rain that messed up my lunch-time walk as a blessing. Or the heart ache I had when a close friend got into a car accident. Or a loss that my lacrosse team had. But his word says differently. These things are blessing as well.

“For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, because it is consecrated by the word of God and prayer.”

–1 Timothy 4:4-5

Read that again. “For everything created by God is good.” EVERYTHING. 

A great example of this is baseball. I know- I’m biased towards baseball. But hear me out. You see so many baseball players point to the sky to God after getting on base, or hitting a home run. But one night I was flicking through the channels and caught one at bat during a game. I can’t remember what team, or who it was, but he struck out. As he was walking back to the dug out, he pointed to the sky and thanked God. HOW. AWESOME. IS. THAT? From someone who has played sports all of my life, it doesn’t make you, or your fans (not that I had any..), happy when your teammate isn’t mad about missing a shot, or striking out, or whatever it may be. Regardless of how much criticism he must get, he still thanks God for striking out.

God’s timing and will is perfect. Something that we might forget when something “bad” happens to us. But we have to remember, that the man upstairs knows what he is doing. And sometimes “bad” things happen to us because he is paving our pathway, and it is absolutely necessary for that to happen to get from point A to point B. I can think back to so many instances in my life where something that I once viewed as negative was just a stepping stone to get to the top of the mountain.

“And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”

–Colossians 3”17

 Step 1. Recognize that everything that happens, is a blessing from God. I repeat, EVERYTHING.

Realize that God is control of every little thing. There is a story that I once heard. It goes a lil-sumthin’-like this: 

A man was driving through a busy parking lot desperately trying to find a parking spot. He says, “God, please help me find a parking spot!” Two seconds later, a parking spot opens up. And he says “Oh, never mind God. Found one.”

NO!!!!! How can people be so blind. I do this sometimes, guilty as charged. So, not only should you praise God for the good and the bad, but for the little things that you might overlook. 

Step 2. Give praise to God for that blessing with a joyful heart.

Step 2 is just as important as step 1, for a couple of reasons. First, because you have to give credit when credit is due. How much more glory will you bring to God if you recognize him for not only the good things, but the negative things as well. That is truly showing him that you have complete faith that his plans are good. Secondly, it brings you closer to God and is a powerful weapon against the enemy. 

Something I started doing is writing in a blessing book. Every night before I go to bed I write down in a journal at least one blessing from the day. I try to stay away from the cliché things and try to dig deeper and challenge my self to writing down things that might not first come to mind. Here is a picture of mine.

Smile. And know that God is with you.