Blessed

I read James 1:2-18 this morning and just really felt encouraged.


Ever since Jamie lost his job (2 weeks ago) I have felt this magnetic pull towards God. We really have no other option but to lean on Him at a time like this, and I feel really close to Him. I feel like through this alot of my Faith has been tested, I'm not questioning my Faith what so ever, more I am just asking God if I am where I need to be. About a week ago I started to really think, "Yes, this IS where God has placed me." It is hard to know why God allows these difficult times, we do live in a broken world so they are bound to happen. Maybe He is pushing us towards a new venture, or helping us to see blessings in a new light.


While we saw that Jamie was losing his job and things were happening in our lives, my friend Stac wrote a blog about how it may be possible that some people today, and even in the church, may feel that you are only blessed when you are entitled to something. She writes "I wonder if, instead of a culture of poverty, low-income families are instead experiencing a lack of a culture of entitlement." Really interesting and it just kind of all has struck me. Maybe I need to be living more as if I am a blessed person, maybe I need to be focusing on all of the other blessings around me and my family instead of what our income is and how we will meet our own worldly needs.


Ever since I have tried taking on this mentality, I have found that commercial things are annoying me and that the hunt for the newest best cell phone is almost a "need" in our society. It's driving me crazy! (If you happen to have the newest, coolest phone on the market...I am not directing this at you! I am just saying that all of this has personally opened my heart and my mind to what I AM blessed with and to view things that are desires just as that and not as needs. This is just my personal journey.)


I thought at first that our jobless, directionless situation was just a big trial. Now I am in the situation...it doesn't feel like a trial at all. It feels good. We have no control over this situation, but I know God does and He is guiding us as we speak. I also feel blessed knowing that we are where He wants us, and I am completely confident of that. And at peace.


James 1:2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters,[a] whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. 4 Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.


12 Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him.