Count your blessing

Recently, I attended the school annual day celebration of my son, Daniel. It was fun to watch little kids dancing and singing. This song which the little kids sung spoke to my heart and made me think of the countless blessing that God had poured out in my life. The hymn goes like this… Count your blessing!

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.

Count your blessings, name them one by one,
Count your blessings, see what God hath done!
Count your blessings, name them one by one,
And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done.

Are you ever burdened with a load of care?
Does the cross seem heavy you are called to bear?
Count your many blessings, every doubt will fly,
And you will keep singing as the days go by.

When you look at others with their lands and gold,
Think that Christ has promised you His wealth untold;
Count your many blessings. Wealth can never buy
Your reward in heaven, nor your home on high.

So, amid the conflict whether great or small,
Do not be disheartened, God is over all;
Count your many blessings, angels will attend,
Help and comfort give you to your journey’s end.

This song reminded me to count the blessing and thank God for all the things which happened in my life. All of us would have gone through so many ups and downs in our lives.  Yet, God has preserved us and sustained us all through these years.

It is a human tendency to take glory when things go well. We feel that we are in control of everything in our lives. Many times, we would have forgotten to thank God when things go our way. But, when a disaster strikes, we realize that we are helpless. We run to someone who can bring us out of our misery. We seek someone who can solve all our problems. In that attempt, sometimes we try God also. We seek him to clear all our debts, clear all the mess and solve all our problems. Have we not faced such situations? We are guilty of using God as just another way out when we are in a disaster. Actually, tough times show our ground. They help us examine our faith.

• Are you rooted on Christ?
• Are you just leaning on him so that you can avoid bad things?

We need to remember that, “God is our refuge, strength and very present help in trouble” (Psalms 46:1). We need to realize that whatever may be the situation in our lives, God is in control. God is on the throne. There may be moments of self pride, which would delight in putting yourself on the throne. Remember! You are not in control. God is always in control.

In the same time, we need to be cheerful and filled with hope when we are going through tough times. Earlier this year, I was recovering from Bells palsy. Personally, it was a tough time for me to go through. So many thoughts and questions of uncertainty were ringing on my head! I am thankful that God comforted me in that tough time. God gave me the strength to go through and healed me completely. I thank God, my healer, who had healed me. I am sure that it would be tough for any of us to go through challenging situations and yet remain cheerful.

• It may be a financial crisis.
• It may be persistent illness.
• It may be demise of your loved ones.

In all these cases,

• Was it tough when we go through it? It’s an obvious yes!
• Did we love to go through it? May be not!

In all these situations, Bible asks us to trust in God because we know that all things work together for good, for those who love God (Roman 8:28). We need to count it all joy when we meet trials of various kinds, because testing of faith will produce steadfastness and we will be perfected in God (James 1:2-4). One day will come. In that day, God will wipe away every tear from our eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away (Revelation 21:4). We need to learn to be cheerful and wait hopefully for that day. Till then, let us count our blessing.

Count your blessings, name them one by one,
Count your blessings, see what God hath done!
Count your blessings, name them one by one,
And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done.