Counting My Blessings

My Mother’s Day Bouquet

Last week was very overwhelming… it seemed that everything that could go wrong, did. At times like that I often will take my eyes off of the Lord and focus instead on all that is going on around me… all the negative anyways. When at last it seemed that I could do no more, handle no more, think no more, I heard the still small voice of my Heavenly Father reminding me to count my blessings. Here is a short list in no particular order:

*Friends ~ we are incredibly and wonderfully blessed to be surrounded by loving, caring people including the family who loaned us their car (complete with a full tank of gas!) and fixed the brakes on our van without charge. And gratitude overflows from the depths of my heart when I consider the God who answers prayer and all those friends who are praying for us.

*Customers and a business we love~ it was a slow week at the store but there were customers and the Lord wanted me to remember that fact…. those who came in, who praised our store, who love our soaps, who spent their hard-earned money in our shop rather than somewhere else.  We are still working with our hands, together, all these years later and in spite of slow times, in spite of  supplier problems, in spite of  rising shipping costs and shipping impossibilities, it is a blessing without measure.

* Home and hearth~ we continue to have a comfortable home, wood for the fire (yes even in May we sometimes need one!), food to eat and lots of love to share… the simple everyday blessings that so many around the world go without and yet we often take for granted.

*A royal court~ here in my home I am queen, the Mama who presides over her royal court along side her husbandly king. My husband and children are my family, my friends, my loves. I am treated far above my station and expectations and it is a joyous position I hold.

* The Word of God~ true spiritual meat, soul refreshment, encouragement in drought time, life and water. Who can put a value on the blessing of being able to hold God’s very word in my own hands? Priceless.

So just like the hymn “Count Your Blessings” admonishes : “When upon life’s billows you are tempest tossed, When you are discouraged thinking all is lost, Count your many blessings, name them one by one, And it will surprise you what the Lord has done”. Amen to that.