What comes to your mind when you think of a blessing?
Is it the prayer an elder at the table gives before you eat a holiday dinner as a family?
Is it that time you or a family member got baptized and “received a blessing from the God”?
By definition, a blessing is said to be God’s protection and favor.
The human experience is a collection of good, evil, blissful, stressful, beautiful, and ugly moments.
When we seek to find joy in every aspect of our lives, that is when I believe we are truly experiencing the blessing God intended for all of us.
For those of you having a bad day, or trudging through a hard season while reading this, I challenge you to seek joy in your circumstance.
You may have tried, given up, and tried again. I’m asking that with each new day, you commit to trying again.
“Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.”
Trial and tribulation does not exempt you from God’s blessing. According the first verse in the scriptures above, it actually builds your endurance and ability to find contentment right where you are.
Similar to building muscle, learning a skill, or excelling in anything, you must practice.
As I thought back to the time this mindset first shifted, I’m brought back to a childhood memory.
When I was around 8 years old, I remember feeling deeply saddened by the divorce of my parents, not seeing my dad as often, and having repetitive, vivid nightmares.
Of course, as a young child, we don’t have the words or the tools to truly understand what it is that we are experiencing.
There was a moment where I laid on the bottom bunk of my bunk bed, and I looked up at the plywood supporting the top bunk. I’d drawn a scene with a Crayola washable marker.
The scene was stick figures of my family holding hands, outside, under a big yellow sun.
Though that wasn’t the case in real life, it occurred to me in that moment that I needed to be more optimistic. I made a pact to my 8 year old self that I’d try to find the sunshine in every situation from that point on. No longer would I sulk and cry over circumstances I couldn’t change.
“For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow.” (James 1:3)
Flash forward through the decades – I’ve definitely cried, struggled, been angry, and grieved throughout the years. Though I never forgot that pact I’d made with myself.
The testing of my childhood planted seeds of endurance that I knew needed a source to grow.
As I got older, I felt curious as to where the ability to be optimistic came from. Sure, I’d been practicing for years, yet didn’t understand how life was getting harder and I was still able to see the good.
My dabbling in youth groups as a teen exposed me to God, though it didn’t always stick. Little did I know, more seeds were being planted.
It wasn’t until I’d hit a steep valley of grief, loss, and loneliness that I felt desperate for a light. The sun wasn’t shining where I’d fallen, and my reservoir of good had gone dry.
Or so I thought.
“So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.” (James 1:4)
What had grown in me was a joy that I didn’t understand, though the source of that joy knew me better than I could comprehend.
The blessing came next, when I was invited by a close friend to a new church having a service at a marina on the beach.
I knew the beach was my safe place, I knew the people who invited me, and I was desperate for something to change. I accepted the invite, and the blessings kept coming.
Our joy, our hope, and our blessings come from a source greater than.
Once we are exposed to the places in ourselves that we hope to keep dark and untouched, we start to find the need for a savior.
From what I’ve gathered in my time here, through study, mentorship, and a spiritual tugging on my soul, God is the source of our joy and blessings.
As I’ve grown in my understanding of who God is through the scriptures written and those who have experienced Him in their lives, my ability to see blessing in everything has increased substantially.
My hope is that you need for nothing and find blessing in everything.
If you are suffering, God knows you need healing.
If you are worrying, God knows you need reassuring.
If you are stressing, God knows you need calming.
The challenge comes in acceptance that it’s not all for you and I to carry. God’s blessing, His protection and favor, is designed for all of us.
Blessing may come in small, big, or unexpected packages. Whether you are anticipating a blessing or not, would you be open to receiving one?
My prayer is that you be refreshed, blessed, and open to every drop of joy that exists in your circumstance. May you endure through the trials and find blessings all over the place!
Peace, peace, peace.
Makenna Curtis
Faith, Family, & Entertainment Writer
Local Pulse Pensacola
