Counting Your Blessings?

Ever get to a point in your life
where you feel overwhelmed?
Perhaps with grief, disappointment, heartache?
Surrounded by sadness, failures,
seemingly hopeless situations, etc...?

I found myself there recently.
I realize that when I do find myself there,
it is when my faith is shamefully small.
I loose sight of the almighty God
that I love, serve, and belong to.
But I am glad He is Faithful to remind me.

Yesterday morning, I arose and enjoyed a cup of coffee
with my beloved as we read from the book of Job.
And the Holy Spirit pierced my heart.
A few key verses caught my attention
and stayed in my mind
as I fed from His Truths all the day...

1) Job CONTINUALLY lifted his children
up before the LORD.
(chapter 1, verse 5)
"And it was so, ... that Job sent and sanctified them,
and rose up early in the morning, and offered
burnt offerings according to the number of them all:
for Job said, It may be that my sons have sinned,
and cursed God in their hearts. Thus did Job continually."
What a challenge and reminder to this mother...
that I need (must) pray MORE for the hearts of my children


2) When nothing seemed to be going as Job had planned,
when it seemed that he lost all that he had,
and all he knew was falling down around him...
he fell down and worshipped the LORD,
realizing it was the LORD that gave
and the LORD that can take away...
that it truly is the LORD that is in control.
(chapter 1, verses 20 and 21)
" Then Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head,
and fell down upon the ground, and worshipped, And said,
Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return
thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away;
blessed be the name of the LORD."
What a lesson and reminder for me...
that whatever befalls me, my LORD (Who loves me)
is always in control and is always worthy of worship.
That whatever the circumstances, HE is still the same!


3) That when tempted to curse God and die,
Job realizes that he is not worthy
to expect and receive the blessings of God
or of cursing Him when they do not come.
That God allows what is best for us,
whether we see it good or bad.
(chapter 2, verse 9 and 10)
"Then said his wife unto him, Dost thou still retain
thine integrity? curse God, and die. But he said unto her,
Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh.
What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and
shall we not receive evil? In all this did not Job sin with his lips."
What a lesson for this prideful and ungrateful woman...
I, in no way, deserve God's blessings.
Who am I to complain when they do not seem to come?
Who am I to complain when it seems
that I am surrounded by trials?
Who am I to think that I should not suffer at all,
when HE suffered ultimately? Who am I?


As I sat at my dining room table, after my beloved left,
I stared at those precious Words,
thinking, meditating, praying, letting them sink in,
(what gladness that the Holy Spirit does His work!)
I looked up towards the sky (ceiling) trying to understand
how to move through these circumstances
and He showed me a sign... a LITERAL sign...

Hanging there, high on our dining room wall...



Yes, count my blessings.
A sober reminder... and, yet, I still grasped for more.
So He showed me more.

It was another "sign"... a literal one, too.
He showed me my blessings and they were even labeled!
Underneath the "Count Your Blessings" sign
and hanging on the wall in the hallway was this...


The blessings He wanted me to begin counting.

Oh, how I laughed (and cried).
It is a beautiful and precious thing
when we allow Him to speak to us...
whether through obvious signs
or through a still, small voice.

I counted my blessings... still counting.
But, as Job learned, and as I had to accept...
whatever is happening around me...
God is still God...
and I am His and He is mine!
And I can (and will) hope in HIM!
And I will praise Him... not only for what He can do
but I will praise Him for WHO He is!