Count Your Blessings

Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation.  Selah

Psalm 68:19

In every thing give thanks:  for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus.  1 Thessalonians 5:18

Giving thanks always for  all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Ephesians 5:20

The first Thanksgiving was decreed by Governor Bradford in 1621 to commemorate the Pilgrims harvest.

Then George Washington proclaimed Thanksgiving on November 26, 1789 for a national day of thanksgiving, and Abraham Lincoln made thanksgiving a repeated holiday and called it the Harvest Festival on November 26, 1861.  But it wasn't until 1941 when Congress passed a Bill, naming the fourth Thursday of November that we celebrate Thanksgiving Day like we know it today.

But even before the 'world' decided to give thanks to the Creator for His provision in all things, His children did just that.  In all things, and for all things.

Sometimes we don't see the daily provisions God gives us on a daily basis because we have either come to expect them, or we take them for granted.  It isn't until we 'name them one by one' like the Hymn reminds us to, that we actual see the blessings, too great in number to count, that God gives us daily.

Every single day.

And no matter what circumstance we are going through right now, I know that when I choose to count my blessings, the worries and the fears and the cares of this world quickly fall away because I know that God will take care of me.  Why do I know that?  Because He proves it to me every single day.

If the world can set aside one day a year to give thanks, shouldn't we, Christian, give thanks every day to the One who meets every need?

I'm counting my blessings!

But that's just me!

"For one who has made thanksgiving the habit of his life, the morning prayer will be, "Lord, what will you give me today to offer back to you?"  Elisabeth Elliot

"Careful for nothing, prayerful for everything, thankful for anything."  Dwight L. Moody

"Gratitude lets us see our cup is neither half-empty nor half-full, but more than enough."  Lisa Appelo