Blessings

In preparing to give my testimony a few Sundays ago, I spent a lot of time thinking about what I have been through, and what has been happening in my life lately. I came up with a long list of “bad” things that have happened over the years, or at least things I would change if I could. The list includes things like health concerns, the accident I was in that totaled my car the week before this past Christmas, the crazy time I had trying to find reliable transportation, and relationship struggles. …But then I realized that through all of these things, and the things I am struggling with now, God is doing a good work in me. Somehow, Jesus Christ has taken the things I wish I could cut out of my life completely, and used them for His glory, to break me and then build me back up to be more like Him. I have had to learn to trust in God, even when I don’t understand what He is doing with me, and to keep going, knowing that God will use these situations to strengthen and bless me, and to glorify Him.

Proverbs 3:5 says, “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.”

And in Jeremiah 17:7 it says, “But blessed is the one who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in him.”

Laura Story recently wrote a song called Blessings (you should listen to it here). In an interview about the song, Laura explained that, after going through some particularly tough times, and feeling like God was withholding his blessings from her, she had to step back and re-evaluate how she viewed God’s blessings. The verses of the song talk about things many of us have asked God for, but may not have received, like health, prosperity, wisdom, and peace. Often times in my life I get frustrated, or even angry, when I think of all the blessings God seems to be withholding from me. In this song, Laura Story suggests that maybe God’s blessings are not always apparent, that the things we look at as trials might actually be one of the many ways God blesses us. The chorus of the song asks “What if Your blessings come through raindrops? What if Your healing comes through tears? What if a thousand sleepless nights are what it takes to know You’re near? What if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise?”

God does not cause bad things to happen; rather, He takes the bad situations of this life and uses them for good.

This song has challenged me to look at my life as a bigger picture. To see the things I would call trials as blessings. The accident I was in at Christmas time was not fun. Essentially my car was pushed under an SUV by another car, on the freeway. And, though I wish I could still say I’ve never been in an accident, I have realized something important. My red 1993 Ford Probe had become a symbol to me of the things I could do on my own without God’s help. I relied primarily on the things I had, and the things I seemed to be able to accomplish on my own, and I had stopped relying on God for my strength and comfort. That accident, and the loss of my car, forced me to look at what matters in my life, like that I survived an accident that could easily have killed me, and it has brought me back to my Savior, which is a true blessing.

In James 1: 2-4 it says, “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”

As you go about this day, reflect on the things in your life that have been trials, and consider that God may have been using them for a greater purpose, and remember what it says in Romans 8:28, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”