Count your blessings while you can

It strengthens your faith and changes your outlook each day

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV)

Be thankful and learn to live in the precious present moment.

The Lord has given each of us more blessings than we can count, but it never hurts to try. Counting those blessings will put you in a mindset where your glass is not only half full, but it is overflowing.

I know He has plans for me that have yet to be fulfilled, if not I would not have survived a recent car accident. I survived without a scratch. A right tire failure while traveling at 70+ mph. The picture says, “If not for the grace of God, there go I” …. to the hospital or the graveyard.

The only physical reminder is poison ivy on my legs because I had to climb through it after I got out of the car.

I will focus, now more than ever, on my blessings, not my hardships or “coulda, woulda, shoulda.”

While you are trying to make an inventory of God’s gifts, remember Psalm118:24 (NIV): “This is the day the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it.”

It is not enough just to thank God for daily blessings. We should revel in those blessings; find joy in the big and trivial things we encounter. Like being able to walk around the grocery store without pain in our body, listening to laughter while talking on the phone with friends, and just listening to nature and breathing fresh air!

Today, take time to make a partial list of God’s gifts to you: your talents, opportunities, possessions, relationships, and most importantly, the promise of eternal life because of Jesus Christ.

God has a plan for our lives and the world. Though chaos abounds nearly everywhere we look, as Christians, we know He does not do things by accident. God is willful and intentional even though we cannot always understand His purposes.

Has your life been touched by circumstances that you simply cannot understand? Has your life been shaken? Do you have questions that defy easy answers? Are you troubled by situations that seem unfair, even tragic?

If so, it’s time to turn your questions, your doubts, your fears and your worries over to God.

These disruptions have a purpose, though unseen by us. Through these disruptions, He speaks to us. He is creating a correction because something is out of sync. When God speaks, He expects us to listen and to act appropriately. We know that those in the old covenant did not escape his anger. Nor shall we escape, if we follow in their footsteps. The kingdom of God’s grace and glory is firmly founded and cannot be shaken.

Hebrews 12: 25-29 (NIV):

See to it that you do not refuse him who speaks. If they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, how much less will we, if we turn away from him who warns us from heaven? At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.” The words “once more” indicate the removing of what can be shaken—that is, created things—so that what cannot be shaken may remain.

Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our “God is a consuming fire.

On the road of life with its twists, turns and accidents, disobedience can be a dead-end road. Be open to the possibility that good things have happened and will happen even from catastrophes. Foster a realistic sense of confidence in God’s purposes and avoid worse-case pessimistic thinking.

As you think about your circumstances, remember that God is in control of His world and your world. When you focus your thoughts on God’s blessings, you’ll be happier and healthier. A grateful heart is a healthy heart.

Christian author and Bible teacher Kay Arthur writes: “God is in control, and therefore in everything I can give thanks — not because of the situation but because of the One who directs and rules over it.”

I have a grateful heart now more than ever, and a testimony because He brought me through this test. I joyfully count my blessings each day, and share them in the hope that they are multipled.