Count Your Blessings

Count Your Blessings
Johnson Oatman Jr. wrote this in 1897.  Look at the words and see if you don’t have the urge to smile.

1. 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 hath done.
• Refrain:
  Count your blessings, name them one by one,
  Count your blessings, see what God hath done!
  Count your blessings, name them one by one,
  *Count your many blessings, see what God hath done.
  [*And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done.]

1Chronicles 16:34 Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever.

Psalm 119:62 At midnight I will rise to give thanks to You, Because of Your righteous judgments.

1Corinthians 15:57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

2Corinthians 9:15 Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!

Ephesians 5:20 giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,

I’ve discussed alot of things on this blog, but got convicted tonight about not giving thanks enough.  It amazes me that on what I thought was a really bad and stressful day, a few words from my 2 year old could made me realize just how blessed I am.  All too often we put our happiness in the hands of money, but remember God says you can’t serve money and Him.  With that in mind I realized that among all the stress in my life, I am soo blessed to be a father of three children.  Sometimes we get so caught up in our “important” pursuits that we forget about a very important job that some have been given---Being Parents.

Besides the fact that we should thank God every minute of every day for His Son Jesus, and what He did on the cross for us;  just think about all of the laughter that our children bring us.  I know we are blessed as parents because sometimes these kids can turn a bad day into a hilarious one.  My point today is simple.......Thank God for all of your blessings!  Your salvation, children, job, house, joy, and any other thing you can think of that you should be thankful for.  I promise if you focus more on your blessings than you do on your stresses, you will be a much happier person, which will in turn make your stresses less important.  Makes sense doesn’t it? 

Father, thank you for convicting me on this tonight.  Thank you for Ashton, Ella, and Chap.  Thank you most of all for the salvation that I received by turning my life over to your will through Your Son Jesus. Everytime I get down or stressed about a trial I am going through please allow me to focus more attention on the blessings in my life.  Amen
Book Update...........
My book is in the final stages now and should be released by the middle of Aug.  Please tell people about the blog and pass the link on to anyone who you think may want to read it.  Please pray that the book would be able to reach people for God.  There are expenses associated with the book release and blog upkeep so I am placing a support my blog button on the site that should be up and going this week.  I appreciate any support you feel led to give.