Receiving His Blessings: A Link-Up in "Pages in Our Heritage of Faith"

This season in our lives has been one of great blessing. We don't deserve them. We haven't "earned" them. They are simply Gifts from our loving Father. 


When I stop for a moment and contemplate the incredible quantity and quality of them, I can have several negative reactions: 

• Guilt--I don't "deserve" them. Other people are going through hard times, I could feel badly for enjoying myself. 
• Fear--things can't be this "good" for long. Something "not good" may be just around the corner.
• Embarrassed--I may want to "hide things" from others because I don't want them to feel "less blessed."
• You get the picture

Any of those responses reveal a wrong understanding of His Blessings. 

It is easy for us, from the perspective of the world, to define Blessings as "good things." Things that are fun or comfortable or enjoyable. But that is not a true definition, when we are His.

A Blessing is ANYTHING that causes us to:

• More clearly recognize our need for Him
• Look more like Jesus
• Understand His Father Heart more truly
• Love others more
• Release our hold on this world to a greater degree
• See things through His Eyes
• Die to ourselves
• Grow more in the Fruits of the Spirit

To define blessings only as "things we like" is much too narrow a view.

Where the "rubber really meets the road?" Do I receive His Blessings, all of them, with a heart of gratitude and thanksgiving? That's easy to do when it's something I "like." 


If I am really trusting Him, then my heart is ready with gratitude in every circumstance. And in His perfect Love, the Grace I need to have that response is already available to me so that I may respond in a way that will bring Him Glory.

He is so Faithful.

As I look over the past several months, He reminds me that there have been many challenges, too. There have been many things that have been a blessing because they have showed me just how much I need Him, situations that have required much prayer and weeping and waiting on Him. 

And the most amazing thing? He had to remind me of them. Those situations and challenges aren't heavy in my spirit. I don't know if that makes sense, but the very fact that He has brought us through some very difficult situations that could have caused me to despair (in my own strength), and I had to be reminded of them is, to me, miraculous! His Faithfulness is so complete, His Love so Perfect, that my heart walks in freedom. I don't have to dwell on the problems. He calls me to lay them at His Feet and trust Him, and I am free. 

Now that is what I call Blessings!

That doesn't mean that He won't take me deeper into the Truth of this understanding. That doesn't mean that there won't be temptations to fear and chaff under the circumstances that lie ahead. It does mean, however, that His Faithfulness to supply my need and teach me through every trial I must face is guaranteed. 


His Nature will not change, no matter how my circumstances do. And that gives such Peace.

So in this season in the life of our family that is filled with blessings (that we like), we will praise Him. We will give Him the Glory and thanks for the amazing fun we had on our trip to the Caribbean. And may we, with equal enthusiasm and gratitude, give Him thanks for all His Blessings--even the ones we don't "like."

Our understanding of His Faithfulness is foundational to how we will experience this life. If we choose to use it as the lens through which we see things, we come to understand the "whys" behind the "whats." That's not to say that we will have "the answer" for all our questions in this life, it will mean that He will be Enough. 


I need to understand Him better, to know Him more deeply, to long to dwell closer to His Heart. Seeing His Faithfulness in every second of every minute of every day helps me get there. 


Will you join us here, giving a testimony through your words of His Faithfulness to you? To your family? We are blessed by your stories. It encourages us to walk in faith. 


Grab the button in the sidebar and add it to your post, if you like. Link up anything you have that testifies to His Faithfulness. Add another Page in Your Heritage of Faith.