Count Your Blessings

Are you blessed?  Take a moment to count your blessings.  What did you count?  Did you count the people in your life that bless you?  Maybe it was family, friends, children, parents, teachers, coaches or neighbors: people can be a blessing.  Did you look at all of your stuff?  Was it your house, your car, your heater, the food you get to eat, the job you have that makes you feel blessed?  

People, things and even experiences can make us feel blessed and can bring us to a place of being grateful. But what if you didn’t have those things?  Would you still be blessed?  Could you still have joy?  Would life still be worth living?  

This past Sunday we talked about having a heart of gratitude and thankfulness each day.  Even in the midst of trial and hardship we are called to thank the Lord.  How can this be?  Are we to be grateful for the trial?  We don’t have to be grateful for the trial, but we are to find joy in our opportunity to have strengthened faith.  We are to understand that our salvation is reason enough to be joyful. 

​Looking at the life of Daniel we see that even when the trial comes from our thankfulness we are to be thankful. Looking at the words of the Apostle Paul to the church in Thessalonica we see that being Joyful, constant in prayer and always thankful is a commandment from God.  In Psalms we are reminded that even when our moments seem bad or our circumstances seem troublesome, God has turned our wailing into dancing and our sackcloth into clothes of joy.  Because of this, we have a great reason to be joyful.

When you count your blessings this year, don’t just look at the people, the things and the experiences. Count the blessing of the transformation of your life through the salvation you have received through faith in Jesus.  Remember that thanksgiving doesn’t just have to be a day that people all around the world take a moment to proclaim their blessings, it is to be a daily reminder to give God thanks for the many blessings He has bestowed upon His children.
 
May your Holiday season be filled  with the constant reminder of the goodness of God.
 
-Pastor Paul Mollett