There are days where I get so distracted with the details of life I forget to really think about the abundant blessings I have been showered with. I have a warm home and it is DRY this year despite some heavy rain days. I am able to work full time because of medications that keep my R.A. in check. I have a wonderful family and two blessings that come in the form of granddaughters with their giggles, smiles and hugs. I have the assurance that I belong body and soul, in life and in death, to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ. I have a husband who loves me through the good and bad of life. I have financial resources that help me live a comfortable life where all my needs and many of my wants are met. I have the ability to sit quietly with God and just enjoying BEING in His presence. I have wonderful friends and co-workers.

With all the pain from the past week of the bombings in Boston, fire in Texas, earthquake, flooding, people finding out the cancer they thought they had is more invasive, people struggling with relationships and so much more. I look at the story of Job once again – everything was taken from him but his wife and his life. His cattle, oxen, and donkeys were stolen, his servants were killed or died, sheep burned, camels were taken, and all 10 sons and daughters were killed in a storm. Yet He remained faithful to God and God abundantly blessed Him with so much more than Job had before. Take the story of Joseph who was thrown in a pit by his brothers, sold into slavery, ended up in jail and then ends up as the Pharoah’s advisor in charge of helping with the famine. He ends up being a blessing to all of Israel in this position.

Where we often see trials, God often uses it as incredible provisions of His grace, mercy and blessings. In James, God’s Word reminds us to, “Consider it pure joy 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.” I have to say that in most of the trials of my life I have NOT seen them as blessings or faced them with JOY. But God tells us in many places that He is working through our trials to help us grow deeper in our relationship with Him.

One of my favorite songs these days has been Blessings by Laura Story. It serves as a very real reminder that the trials of life are God’s abundant mercies shaping us for what lies ahead.

Praying you may be filled with God’s abundant grace, mercy and blessings in whatever trials you face ~ Faye