Counting our blessings

by Jessica Finney

Psalm 100:4 Enter into His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise, give thanks to Him and praise His Name.

Have you ever noticed that sometimes when our life is going bad that when we pray it is all negative?  Please Lord help me through this or why is this happening to me.   God wants us to ask for his help and pray for those things but how many times do we go to Him, just to say thank you?   Sometimes we take things for granted and don't thank Him for the many blessings we have in our lives. Even through the struggles, we can see how God is working but only if we want to.

As an example, when my mom and dad got into a wreck they could have been angry that they had to go through that.  My mom was hurting for a good 6 weeks afterwards.  They could have been mad because they didn't have their old van, that they loved.  Sure they were disappointed like anyone would be but it is all how you look at it.  They chose to stay positive.  They listed all of the things that could have happened.  The SUV could have hit them an inch farther up, my dad could have been driving and he would have had the seat back farther and would have had more of a direct hit (so see there are advantages to being short), they may have stopped the lady that hit them from hitting someone head on, which could have killed everyone involved, and the list goes on and on.

I am horrible about getting into a self-pity party.  It is pretty lonely there because who else wants to join you?  No one because it doesn't help anything it just hurts our witness.  We need to remember that there is someone always worse off then we are.  Even during the bad times when we feel, we have no hope. We do. God gives us hope. No matter how bad it gets down here, it will be so much better in heaven. God will give us the strength to keep going down here as long as we ask Him for it.  He doesn't push His way into our life but is there when we allow Him to be.

Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for all the blessings you have given me.  I don't deserve even half of what you give me. Especially when I can get negative about life.  Help me to live in you and not have a self pity party and show others that You are helping me through any hard times.  I want to praise you in the  good times and in the bad. In Jesus, name amen.