Blessings

O taste and see that the LORD is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him. ~Psalm 34:8

Today I was sitting in my car, just watching passing traffic, waiting for an opportunity to pull out on the main road. As I was sitting I saw in a passing vehicle a father signing to his teenage daughter....when I saw this I felt a check in my spirit. I immediately thanked God for something many of us take for granted..the ability to simply hear voices..the ability to be able to enjoy beautiful music...the list could go on & on. It is easy to take things for granted, especially when everyone else seems to enjoy the same blessing. There is no blessing that everyone else enjoys, other than the opportunity to experience salvation. No matter what the case, someone somewhere is less privileged in some way than you.

Lately I have been trying to adjust to the fact that I will soon be saying goodbye for a long time to many of my favorite people. The goodbyes that are hardest for me to think about are the ones with my twin niece & nephew and my father. Goodbyes have never been all that hard for me; this time though is a bit harder...

This time I am going on a mission trip for longer than I have ever went on one before...and this time I have no intentions to come back and finish school, etc like I have done in the past...my intentions are simply to do whatever it takes to continue following God's will for my life and my home town is not where God has called me, but rather one of the places He has prepared me.

This time I have a niece & nephew who are two and who have completely stolen my heart. This time I have a father who is in his 70s and who had three silent strokes last year. This time is different.

While talking with God earlier this week about this and asking him how best to cope, I felt Him speak to me, "Thank me for the blessings." So, I began to think about what God meant. It didn't take long to realize exactly what he'd meant....

1) My niece & nephew are miracle babies..the babies we prayed for for 10 years...they are an answer to prayer. Beautiful. Healthy. Great personalities. I'm proud & thankful to be their "Aunt Rachel".

2)When I got the phone call while living in Tupelo, MS last year that my Dad had experienced a minor stroke, I could have arrived home and found him in a much worse condition...I had a grandma who was paralyzed on one side for over 10 years. That's the only way I ever knew her. I automatically thought of her when I received the voicemail from my sister-in-law. But God saw to heal my Dad from ninety percent of the damage that had been caused from the strokes within weeks of them occurring.

3) I've grown up with a father who has always been there for us and always shown love to my Mom & us.
4) My father is a very godly man whom I've never heard a negative word spoken about...a true example of Christ.
5) Him & my Mom have brought me up to know & love God as well and to always follow His will.

Sometimes it's important to stop and count our blessings...The specific blessing that God was talking about to me? The blessing of simply having an awesome niece & nephew and a loving, godly father to whom to even be able to say goodbye. It's easy to take for granted how blessed we really are.

So....as I was sitting in that car earlier today thinking about thanking God for things I take for granted, this song (see link at bottom) came on the radio.
Sometimes we take obviously good things for granted...but sometimes things we think are bad, are actually good...blessings in disguise. Some of these we may never realize until we get to heaven. As the old song goes, "We'll understand it better by and by."

Reflect upon your present blessings, of which every man has many; not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some. ~Charles Dickens

I hope this song touches you as it did me. God bless!

Blessings