Blessed?

We have a guest blogger today!  Katie Ganshert is the author of Wildflowers from Winter and Wishing on Willows (releases March 19, 2013).  She was born and raised in the Midwest, where she writes stories about finding faith and falling in love.  When she is not busy plotting her next novel, she enjoys watching movies with her husband, playing make-believe with her wild-child of a son, and chatting with her girlfriends over bagels and coffee.  She and her husband are in the process of adopting from the Congo.  You can find her online at her blog and on Facebook.

 

I'm so grateful for other Christian women that I have had the opportunity to meet and to get to know.  She is a mom that is in the "waiting process" with the rest of us.  I had the opportunity to read Katie's first novel and she is a very talented writer! Enjoy what Katie has to share with us and be sure to check out her novel - it's a great read!!

 

Blessed?

by Katie Ganshert

We find out a friend's pregnant and we say, "What a blessing!" And the woman who's barren wonders.....

We see smiling parents with well-adjusted attached children and we say, “What a blessing!” And the parent who are struggling with their newest little one wonders…

We see big, healthy families in big, beautiful houses and we say, "What a blessing!" And the mother struggling with the medical bills wonders....

Am I blessed?

Here in America, blessing is usually synonymous with good fortune. Whether that be money or health or success or popularity or beauty or (fill in the blank). We think if good things happen to us, then God must be blessing us. Which is fine and might even be true. But for every definition we construct, there's an unspoken opposite that simmers beneath it.

If blessed means fertility, then the infertile woman isn't blessed.

If blessed means attached children, then the parents struggling with attachment aren’t blessed.

If blessed means health and prosperity, then the unhealthy and poor aren't blessed.

And if we're not blessed, we must be doing something wrong. Somehow we're missing the point. God's not pleased with us. Maybe even upset with us. We're undeserving....less loved.

Then Jesus opens his mouth and says...

“Blessed are thepoor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

“Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

“Blessed are themeek, for they shall inherit the earth.

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.

“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.

“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

“Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven...."

Wow. Rejoice and be glad.

Because it's the hard stuff that removes our hope from this shifting world and pins it on an unchanging God. It's the hard stuff that brings us to our knees and draws us close to Him. And drawing close to Him.....wow. What a blessing.

Let's Talk: Do you go through periods in life where you don't feel blessed? Do you equate good fortune with blessing? If you could pull up a chair with God and ask Him what it means to be blessed, what do you think He'd say?