All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us
with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ.
Ephesians 1:3 (NLT)
Sometimes, life can be overwhelming. Staring at our mountain of problems leaves us feeling less than blessed. Counting our blessings does not become our highest priority. Yet when life serves up more burdens than blessings, that’s precisely when we must focus on the multitude of good things we have received through Christ.
In her book, A Place of Healing; Wrestling with the Mysteries of Suffering, Pain, and God’s Sovereignty, Joni Eareckson Tada shares, “Up until that illness (double pneumonia) I inhaled and exhaled with hardly a thought. Breathe in, breathe out. Who even thinks about it? But in the hospital I discovered that, whether we realize it or not, we truly live our lives moment by moment, breath by breath. We breathe in so naturally; it’s a given. But I have learned that it’s more than a given. It’s a gift! Oxygen is the life and breath of our body. I have to admit, this take-something-precious-for-granted sort-of-thing is often the way I relate to Jesus, our true life and breath. Because we live, move, and have our being in Him, as it says in Acts 17:28; it’s all too easy to take His life-sustaining grace for granted. Every day we breathe in His love, breathe in His grace, breathe in His help. And what do we exhale? A dull forgetfulness of His constant love toward us.”
We tend to get so caught up in our struggles that we forget to praise God for who He is and what He’s done. He’s saved us, adopted us, loved us, redeemed us. He provides for our needs, guides us, spares us over and over again from evil, and holds us in His loving arms. As if that weren’t enough, He has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms. That’s a whole lot of good gifts!
If you are feeling discouraged, I would urge you to begin a “blessings diary.” List one blessing per day, and soon you will discover how blessed you truly are. Short on ideas? Read Ephesians, chapter one; you’ll have enough to keep you going for at least two weeks!