I know we have all heard both terms when we meet someone who seems to be very lucky. Let me tell you though, there is a difference between having a blessed life and havind a charmed one. I will agree there are many simularities between the two. The difference? No one ever said a blessed life would be and easy life.
The sermon today was about God giving us the gift of blessing our lives and how we are to extoll Him at all times no matter what. There is also a passage or two in the Bible that says that we should rejoice in our sufferings because that means that God is, in the term of The Shack “especially fond of us’.
I do lead a blessed life. I know that the hand of God is at work constantly in my life. I don’t have it easy and I don’t take what I have for granted. Some times, I have to sit back and look at where I was and where I am to realize the blessings that have occurred in my life. They are there. Plain as day. I just have to think about it and I can see God’s work and His loving protection of me.
I would guess that my many members of my family would agree that they have led blessed lives. Many of them have had harships and sorrows along the way. Still yet, they found time to rejoice and praise the Lord for holding them fast during the especially rough times.
That being said, there are times when we go through unnecessary suffering. Those times, God uses the instance to maybe discipline us. Other times, the suffering helps us to grow stronger and to be able to help others along the way. That is when God blesses our life.
I can tell you beyond a shaddow of a doubt that I would not be where I am today without having to go through some of the roughest parts of my life. I would never know the wonderful people who are now my dearest friends and support group if I had not suffered through some really hard and awful times.
Next time you are having a really hard time of it….Think about whether God is blessing you or teaching you or both. But….never hesitate to rejoice when you come out on the other side!
May 17, 2009 at 6:50 pm |
Ms Cindy,
These are excellent thoughts. In my book (I’m still shooting for 2010) Indie showed so much about how to deal with adversity. He was not always treated right, but he would smile and say between the Good Lord and music, he’d get by.
I think I have been both charmed and blessed; a very lucky man, but when I do get in a tough spot, I try to think how he would handle it.
Dr. B