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How often do you find yourself counting burdens instead of blessings?
I shudder to think what my answer would be to that question. Maybe you do too. No matter how blessed we may be, it’s all too easy to get caught up in grumbling and complaining and forget to focus on our blessings instead.
In today’s Proverbs 31 Devotion titled The Secret to Happiness, I talked about this and the lesson we learn from 1 Thessalonians 5:16 which simply says, “Always be joyful.” (NLT)
Simple instructions, but not always so simple to do, especially when we’re frustrated, disappointed, heartbroken, or mad. When we’re tired, weary and feeling like life dealt us a bowl of lemons. Yet those are the exact times we should stop ourselves in our tracks and start counting our blessings one by one!
Growing up, I loved the old hymn “Count Your Blessings” and must have sung it in church hundreds of times. But the meaning of its words did not fully sink into my heart until I got older and realized the value of actually doing what this hymn says.
The lyrics say, “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.”
When we make it a practice to count our blessings instead of our problems and commit to this practice, we’ll gradually form a habit of living a thankful life, because when our hearts are full of gratitude to God, our lives will feel full too. We’ll also find we don’t have the time or desire to count up all our problems and realize that despite what we might be facing, all is not lost and happiness can be ours. Our doubts about God’s goodness will diminish and we might even adopt an entirely new perspective on our lives. More times than not, we might be even surprised by all the Lord has actually done and at the number of blessings we inadvertently overlooked, simply because we never stopped long enough to actually count them and thank Jesus for them.
I mentioned in my P31 devotion that earlier this year I began keeping a “blessings list”. Each time something good happened, big or small, or I noticed a blessing I was thankful for, I wrote it down. I also shared about the amazing impact it had on my attitude and my ability to love my life. I also promised in the devotion to offer a free download of a blessings list to post on your fridge, bathroom mirror, or even your bulletin board at work to help you form a practice of counting blessings over burdens. You can download that document below. Happy blessings counting!
CLICK BELOW TO DOWNLOAD THE BLESSINGS LISTÂ
The secret to real happiness isn’t really a secret at all. It’s simply realizing the importance of counting blessings over burdens and understanding that gratitude has incredible power over grumbling. ~ Tracie Miles
Click here to read the full Proverbs 31 Encouragement for Today Devotion, The Secret to Happiness.
Love Life Again: Finding Joy When Life Is Hard
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Tracie Miles is a bestselling author and the Director of COMPEL Training with Proverbs 31 Ministries. She helps women grow stronger in their faith, pursue the life of purpose God designed them for and live a life of peace, joy and happiness despite their circumstances.
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God bless you! I enjoyed reading your blog today! About counting our blessing! Thanks for being so transparent! Excited about your new book!
Your relationship with the Lord is indeed a God thing. I have several girlfriends that are new to the walk. Too many times my words fall short. So his words to your ears to my ears and t o numerous others is what it’s all about. Happy comes and happy goes. Joy is indeed from him and it was told to me in this form and I never forgot it. Joy J is for Jesus first. Letter o is for others second. Letter y is yourself last. Having him in our heart through salvation and most important sharing yourself through his word with others as he has commanded us to do is the key to True Joy.
Yes…..we tend to think things or possessions is what makes us happy….and when they are gone we panick. God wants us to put others above material things. When I was carnal, I thought things, possessions, shopping at upscale malls like Neiman Marcus and Saks gives me the ultimate satisfaction…then it dwindles and again..I pursue after things to fill my loneliness and depression.. Oooh…if only I had someone to disciple and teach me that True Joy comes from the Lord!!
Yes…..we tend to think things or possessions is what makes us happy….and when they are gone we panick. God wants us to put others above material things. When I was carnal, I thought things, possessions, shopping at upscale malls like Neiman Marcus and Saks gives me the ultimate satisfaction…then it dwindles and again..I pursue after things to fill my loneliness and depression.. Oooh…if only I had someone to disciple and teach me that all these THINGS gives you temporary happiness..
Hey K..????
I just saw your post tonight. So I did some searching on your needing help of discipleship,THAT CLEARLY IS THE SINGLE MOST VITAL STEP IN YOUR WALK WITH THE LORD… unfortunately too many times young Christians come to the Lord after getting saved and they don’t get fed of the word and don’t get to know our father in a personal way. When you think of it this way you realize how he saved you it is you’re getting to know and have a personal relationship with h i m… so here are just a few of essential helpful tools. #1HARVEST.ORG go to MENU then click: KNOW GOD.(Scroll to
go to) GROW SPIRTUALLY:
SEE BIG RED LETTERS. START TO FOLLOW
ESSENTIALS : 14 christ on line courses….then see FOUNDATION FOR
LIVING.. BROWSE TOPICS..????ect..ect..
#2.BIBLE APP( just Google BIBLE APP) comes in 50 languages YOU VERSION ect.all kinds of other perks…????
#3 DAILY BIBLE app.has picture of bible with cross on a bible only good on smartphone…HAS DAILY VERSE ON IT sent 2 your phone…MUCH MORE
LET ME KNOW IF ANY ALL WORK oh
#4 ONE PLACE.COM has like about 30 different preachers you can listen to and since FAITH COMES FROM HEARING N HEARING FROM THE WORD OF THE LORD it’s a wide-open app.to pick and choose from!! I highly recommend Greg Lowry on harvest.com which is how I found him in the first place.. years ago he has daily devotion half an hour preaching everyday and he’s got a big Crusade coming up ..
#5 OLIVETREE VIEWS.ORG gives you Headliners of real news not the fake stuff that they put out there.YOU CAN SEE PROPHESY UNFOLDING RIGHT BEFORE YOUR EYES, to see the things aren’t FALLING APART THEY ARE FALLING TOGETHER. We were saved for a purpose to spread the gospel to the outermost ends of the Earth while there’s still light..tick-tock????âš ????
Counting my blessings and thanking God for each one. Also, thanking God for lessons learned.
You can’t imagine how much I needed to read this right here and now! Even though I do “count my blessings” often each day, I am so guilty of counting my burdens more. Your post really helps me see this. Thank you for this!
Loved this whole paragraph! “When we make it a practice to count our blessings instead of our problems and commit to this practice, we’ll gradually form a habit of living a thankful life, because when our hearts are full of gratitude to God, our lives will feel full too. …” SO true!!
Just one little thing: You seem to have confused happiness and joy. Happiness goes up and down depending on one’s circumstances. But we can have JOY in the Lord because of our connection to Him (You know — Vine, branches…) and REGARDLESS of our circumstances; if your connection to God is steady as a rock, then your joy will be, too. no matter what else is going on!
“as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: in great endurance; in troubles, hardships and distresses; 5 in beatings, imprisonments and riots; in hard work, sleepless nights and hunger; 6 in purity, understanding, patience and kindness; in the Holy Spirit and in sincere love; 7 in truthful speech and in the power of God; with weapons of righteousness in the right hand and in the left; 8 through glory and dishonor, bad report and good report; genuine, yet regarded as impostors; 9 known, yet regarded as unknown; dying, and yet we live on; beaten, and yet not killed; 10 sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, and yet possessing everything.” 2 co 6:4-10
Thank you for this powerful message. Just like a spark ignites a fire, so our thoughts of gratitude rekindle a spirit of contentment and peace. Holy Spirit, saturate my heart with the truth of your word. Fan the flame of thankfulness in my spirit, so that on days when Satan tempts me to be overwhelmed by the challenges of this world, the fire of gratitude will be a light to overcome the darkness.
I can choose joy and choose to be thankful even when things don’t go how I planned!