Was that a blessing?

Day 158

We talking about blessings a lot.  This or that is a blessing, bless me….etc.  What does it really mean?  We have different definitions based on different situations I guess…but my main man Noah Webster puts it like this.

Blessing – Any means of happiness; a gift, benefit or advantage; that which promotes temporal prosperity and welfare, or secures immortal felicity. A just and pious magistrate is a public blessing. The divine favor is the greatest blessing.

That is cool…a gift…an advantage…a benefit  I think that we put God in a box too much.  We ask for blessings but we seldom rely on them.  Case in point….”me”.

I am hanging at the beach this week…and please keep all emails and comments to yourself…it is really difficult here.  And just yesterday morning, the washer quit.  But this was tough buddy…it just died…right in the middle of the rinse cycle, so I couldn’t get the water out.  I begged it, pushed and pulled…shook….repeated the last two…nothing….it was dead.

So my prayer was this….Lord, you know that I need these clothes washed, and you know that I don’t really feel like putting up with the aggravation of going to a laundry mat, or having to wait until my clothes dry outside, or having to buy a new washer….so God, what do you think.  How about hooking a brother up….
I thought that was a decent prayer considering the situation.  I didn’t weep or travail, but I was very serious…I wanted him to supernaturally fix my situation.  And lo and behold….nothing.

So I did what all mechanically challenged men do…I pulled out a screw driver and took out two screws.  I opened up the main panel realized if anything was broken I wasn’t going to actually be able to get parts….so I closed it back up, and thought about going online to see if I could be the cheapest washer available.

And I tried it “one more time”….and it purred like a kitten.  A miracle?  I don’t know…but it sure felt like one.  A blessing?  YOU BET!!!!  But why did God make me pull out the trusty screw driver?  No idea….maybe He just wanted me to confirm that I had no way of fixing this thing.  And that reminds me of one of my favorite verses…

Matthew 6:25-34 –  “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?
28 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? 31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Be encouraged…your Heavenly Father knows what we need.  Isn’t that cool?  By the way…I am doing this blog on my IPAD, and just lost the entire file….BUT…blessing number 2…God allowed me to find out how to restore it.  He knew that I needed that.

And be really encouraged…..you don’t have to worry about tomorrow.  THERE IS GOING TO BE TROUBLE….but God has a blessing for you in the midst of that as well!!!

Grace and Peace, Dan