There's A BIG Responsibility In Being Blessed

I've had a thought on my mind a lot lately...

"There's a big responsibility in being blessed". That could mean a lot of things like 'Pay it Forward' or 'It's better to give than receive'. But right now for me, I think, it means that because I have received blessing after blessing from my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, it is my responsibility to boldly announce it and to give Him all the praise and glory! And so, if I may, I'd like to tell you now about this past Spring and Summer, the "season of my unemployment" and the great and wonderful things my God taught me and did for me during that time. Several times during my unemployment from March to October (which I will just refer to as "the summer") people asked me, "How are you making it?" and my favorite, "I want to know your secret. How are you doing all that you're doing and you don't even have a job?" My "secret" was a simple one... Jesus.

I don't really think I can tell this story of being blessed beyond measure without telling the 'whole' story. I want you, my dear reader, at the end of this blog post to come to no other conclusion but that God Himself provided for my every need. I don't want you to believe for a minute that it was dumb luck, coinsidence, or some random act of kindness. It was straight up Philippians 4:19 which says "But my God shall supply all your needs according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus". His eye really is on the sparrow...and I KNOW He's watching me!

So how do I know that? If I didn't know Jesus I wouldn't be able to comprehend that every little thing is from God. Every good thing, every seemingly bad thing, every ounce of anything and everything I have is a gift from Him. I'm only a simple human. How can I wrap my mind around such a supernatural concept? Blind faith? Yes. A little of that. Utter dependency on someone greater than me? It's a good start but completely impossible without faith. Rest assured, I didn't just wake up one morning and realize God had my back... I've been growing up in my Christianity over the last couple of years and because of my God-directed path that I've been on, when the time came to completely "let go and let God..." I could do it. And even more importantly, I did it! And in turn, He did exactly what he said He would do. Truly, the Lord IS my Shepherd, and I shall NOT want!

This is going to be a long story. I won't apologize - it's my blog and I can write something as long as I want! But it might be that I write the 'story' in several posts. It's so important to me to sing God's praises that I don't want to miss a thing! So bear with me if it takes me forever. As it were, the last time I wrote a thing in my blog was 6 months ago :( I promise, my blog-followers, I'll try to do better!

Since everything that happens in my life (yours too, by the way!) has been part of His divine plan since before the beginning of time, there are no coincidences in life. Each instance in my little world is just another paver on the path laid out for me. Officially to tell the "story" I could go all the way back to my childhood, before I was born, even before my mom and dad were born! But for time's sake I'll start when I met my sweet church. I knew Jesus. Well, I knew who He was and I had 'accepted Him as my Savior'. And that was the extent of my Christianity. I figured it was enough. And it was if I was going to continue down my own self-carved path it would have been plenty. But He had other plans for me. He decided I was ready to visit Tuckaseege Baptist Church and when I did my whole life changed forever. Yes, I knew Jesus but evidently on my first visit to His church I also met up with the Holy Spirit!

Visiting Tuckaseege led me to my Sunday School class, taught by a motherly, precious woman who genuinely prays for people. If ever there's a need, she's praying. Remember that as we get farther along in the 'story'. While in Sunday School I started to become really thirsty for the Word of God. As a child I had heard all the Bible stories, but as an adult these stories got some breath in them, became alive to me with real people and real situations. I started to hear the Word with different ears. I could see plainly what was meant by the 'living' Word. It was ALIVE and chasing me! It called me and I heard it! It answered my questions, increased my knowledge, quenched my thirst. God's love letters to me. God's instruction for me. God's very words had been sitting in my bookcase for 40 years just waiting for me to open the pages and receive. My favorite part, if you will, was anytime I'd been struggling with an issue or had nagging questions or worries. Just like a well-executed plan it was comprehensively addressed within the hour of my Sunday School lesson. It was as if I had said "Hey God, answer me this..." and poof, we turned to our lesson and He said "here ya go". That kept me eager and it suddenly dawned on me that I seemed to have a very personal relationship with God.

My church relationships also started to grow. If I missed a Sunday people would notice. That made me feel like I was a part of something. And without me there things weren't the same for everyone else. That might sound arrogant - but being an official member of the Body of Christ, I really do play a role in the overall church. Even if it's just to be a pew filler for that day, I was officially a part of something. That was a nice feeling and that made me want to go more. It made me want to come back on Sunday nights and Wednesdays. I started to really become a part of a church. I wasn't so much a visitor anymore but someone who welcomed visitors. More purpose for my random life.

Some time passed. Lots of other wonderful things came to me as a result of becoming a member of my church, but again for time's sake you're just going to have to trust me. The most important thing I gained was growth in my Christianity which made it possible to see my upcoming "season of unemployment" as the blessing that it turned out to be. It was Mid-March and suddenly I found myself unemployed. It was no fault of my own, in my opinion, but I was not eligible to receive unemployment benefits. So there I was - without employment or income. At first I wasn't worried. I had just received my income tax check and had enough money to do me for a bit. I was amazed at how fast that money was gone. I figured I'd easily get a job working in a veterinary hospital but that wasn't the case. The next thing you know I was a few months into unemployment and down to less than 10 bucks in my checking account. Becoming broken. Dying to myself. Whatever you wanted to call it - I was getting to the bottom of the rocks with nowhere to turn but God and only God. And then I had a paradigm shift in my way of thinking (Wink and nod to my pastor...) and suddenly this horrible thing that happened to me, this desperate state I found myself in, this 'random patch of bad luck' became a blessing the likes I never thought to expect! He saved me in every way and so now when it comes to anything "me" - to God be all the Glory forever, AMEN!

There's a lot more to 'the story' but I'm going to stop for now. I've been blessed with the opportunity to ride on a trailer full of hay bales with some of my favorite church people through Christmastown, USA tonight and I need to get ready. I don't want to try to sound like some kind of expert here ... but if you will, look around you. See everything in your line of sight as something that God has loaned you to bring Him Glory. And make it so. Tweek your perspective, look at things through God's eyes and make everything you have or do be about Him. Right now I'm using my God-loaned laptop computer to use my God-given ability to string words together well enough to praise His name. See how easy that is?! It's not always that easy but I promise you, the more you "stay in Jesus" the better off you are! Blessings to you!