counting blessings

Tuesday, June 14, 2011 (6:56 a.m.)

Blessed Lord,

I just remembered. Yesterday when I was thinking that I was absolutely at the end of my rope [and myself J], I started singing ♫I Surrender All♫ Just now I began thinking that through all this recent chaos, crisis and confusion I need to look for the blessings. The absolutes. The things that do not change. The things that last.

Like You! You never change. This past week I have found myself turning to You regularly. Automatically. Without really thinking about doing it. Every single time I started to get scared, You were Who I thought of.

No matter what the circumstances, “God is good” remains true. Following that with the common response, “All the time” I’ve been playing the phrase out in my mind back and forth all morning. “God is good.” “All the time.” “All the time,” “God is good.”

Thank You Lord. I found myself with the scary thought of being somewhere without ready access to Your Word. As many verses that I readily reference, it’s always with the help of the Internet, or a concordance. As long as I can flip to the book and chapter, I can usually find the verse I’m looking for. The idea of not having a copy of the Bible at my disposal is frightening. As hard as I have tried through the years to imprint verses in my mind and on my heart, I realize how far off the mark I have been. I can often think of a word or part of a phrase, but a verse in its entirety complete with its ‘address’ is far too often beyond me.

Thank You Lord for helping me remember that no matter what is going on around me, no matter how out of control I may feel at any given time, You are good. You don’t change. You want Your best for us always. You are good. All the time. All the time, You are good!

What a blessing. Bits and pieces of songs sing themselves enough to get my attention and the next thing I know I am singing myself. Just this morning I remembered ♫Count your many blessings, name them one by one; Count your many blessings, see what God hath done♫ It’s so true Dearest Lord. Even in the midst of storms, burdens and conflicts You are here with us. You ‘never leave us nor forsake us’ (Hebrews 13:5). You make promises that only You can keep.

Thank You Lord. These are blessings we can count on! I thought I was coming here to tell the story of our snowy up close and personal encounters with “baby geeses” and a mama bear and her cub this past week. There was so much beauty mixed in with sheer terror on occasions. So many blessings I was willing to cast aside and overlook.

Oh but Lord, it is the Truth and beauty of Your Word that is the biggest blessing of all!

Psalm 40:5 is the verse attached to Count Your Blessings. The comments following it in The Life Recovery Bible remind us that Your timing is worth waiting for. We are to look to You for help, trusting that You will rescue us from the destruction and despair of the things that hold us down. You will bring stability to our lives so we can again “move forward with confidence and joy”. What a thought Dearest Lord! A smile came to my face just by imagining once again feeling confident and joyful! Thank You Lord!

“O Lord my God, many and many a time You have done great miracles for us, and we are ever in Your thoughts. Who else can do such glorious things? No one else can be compared with You. There isn’t time to tell of all Your wonderful deeds” (Psalm 40:5). Amen to that!

My tendency is to get locked up in the fearful, scary things. Thank You that You came to release us to the thoughts of blessings and Your goodness. Thank You Lord. Help me live this day fully in Your light. Keep me entirely away from the dreadfully scary “what ifs” I keep imagining.

I love You Lord. I ask that You would help me live this day in the confidence and joy that counting my blessings from You allows. Thank You Lord. I love You. Amen.

(730 words ~ 8:14 a.m.)