Care To Share? – Still Standing
I’m not entirely sure why I’ve found myself here on my blog this late at night. I’ve been contemplating deleting it, to be quite honest, because I know I’m not always actively posting.
When I started this blog, I remember saying that even if it reached one person, helped one person, comforted one person, encouraged one person, then it would have been worth it and it would be worth putting time into it. I’m not here looking for a way to make money or become well known, I just want to share my life experiences, my passions, my faith and so much more with you all, in hopes of being the light 🕯️ in someone else’s darkness. I want to help, I want to encourage, I want to be that person who makes you feel less alone in the world! I have no idea what I’m doing on this blog half of the time, but I know there must be a reason I always find my way back to it. I have often been told that I have a way with words, and maybe that’s true to some degree, but maybe that’s a God given gift that I’m supposed to use and share. Maybe I do have the “gift of gab” in order to fulfill my purpose of helping others and to tell them all about God who has protected me and blessed my life; who has never failed me, even though, I’m certain I have failed Him! Whatever the reason, I am here on this blog, and yet again, I don’t exactly know what I’m going to blog about. 😬 I sure hope it doesn’t come across as rambling on, but I feel as if a message is put on my heart as I go.
Recently, at my church service, a message was preached and something has really stuck with me, so I feel as if my thoughts on that, and even some quotes from my pastor, are something worth sharing!
“When God pours out His blessings on you, it’s NOT just for YOU!” That’s an interesting point, isn’t it? When we have prayers that have been answered, test results that come back and reveal we have no illness, when we have been healed mentally, physically or emotionally, when we open our eyes in the morning and wake up, these are just some of the blessings in life that aren’t meant to solely serve us! NEWSFLASH: Life isn’t all about YOU! We may be so thankful to God, we may even say a prayer of thanks to Him in these situations, but if we’re not sharing our blessings with enthusiasm and excitement and giving God the glory He is worthy of, how is anyone else going to receive their blessing(s)?
“What God does to you, He wants to do through you!” We should be quick to give God the recognition and glory when we receive our personal blessings, because someone else’s blessings may come from our own! When we receive blessings, yet we keep it to ourselves, we could potentially be robbing someone out of their blessing! What God does to us, what He gives us, He will use us to extend that blessing to someone else, but we have to do our part! We should “invite others into our blessings” and not just nonchalantly, really get fired up about it! That very feeling you get when you receive that great test result/clean bill of health, when you wake up and you’re still alive and your heart is beating, when you bring a child into the world, when you get that promotion at work, when you overcome mental/physical/emotional or spiritual hardships/obstacles, that is precisely the feeling that should fuel your zeal! You know that when these things happen in your life, you feel like you want to jump for joy, and that’s exactly the kind of emotions we should pass along to others! We should be getting fired up about our blessings, and in doing so, we are spreading that joy and zest for life to everyone around us!
My pastor used the Bible passage above as an example of sharing our blessings. He asked the question, how do you think they signaled for the other boat? After working ALL that time and catching nothing, only to go out once more and be pulling in more than their boat could carry, how do you suppose they called out to the others on that second boat? Do you imagine they’d remain calm about it; quietly thank God for their blessing and collect as much as they could for themselves? How would you react if you were in their place? Your job is to catch fish, yet all day you have caught nothing and now your nets are overflowing to the point that they’re breaking and your boat is beginning to sink! Are you casually pulling those fish into your boat? Are you maybe casually motioning to the others? I’ll bet you and I wouldn’t be so calm about it, and I’ll bet in this scenario they weren’t calm either! I envision their minds being blown and they’re so filled with amazement, that they’re shouting at the top of their lungs for the others to come near and share in this blessing! I imagine them yelling, whistling, jumping up and down waving their hands above their heads, overjoyed at what is transpiring! That’s how ecstatic we should be about our life blessings and how freely we should be sharing our blessings with others and inviting them in to celebrate with us! COME LOOK WHAT GOD HAS DONE!
What if all others heard us talk about were the things that aren’t going right for us? Don’t you think they would question God’s abilities? Some of us can be quick to share our complaints, but we fall short when it comes to sharing our blessings and I think maybe it’s something we could all work on. After all, if our mouths are full of complaints, aren’t we just choking on our praises?
I understand that in the world we live in, it certainly can become easy to fall into the habit of bellyaching and focusing on the negatives, but that neither serves us, nor does it serve others. This just does the opposite of what we should be doing, which is giving others hope and encouragement!
If God can bless me, He can most assuredly and will most assuredly bless YOU! I would love for all of us to be more mindful of the blessings around us and in our lives and how we react to them! Do we simply thank God and move on? Are we doing a better job of voicing our complaints than our blessings? Can we make improvements on how we experience our blessings and how often we invite others into our blessings to celebrate with us? I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to be the person hindering someone else’s blessings, nor do I want someone to hinder mine! Remember, freely you have received, freely you should give!! 👇
Our blessings come through honor, respect and obedience and if we lack in any of those areas, we’re going to lack in the blessings department as well! So let us not only honor and respect God, but honor and respect one another and, in turn, obey God 🙌❤️
Much Love and God Bless! XO
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