Blessed?

I read a blog post a few weeks ago titled  "Christians: Stop Saying You're Blessed." I really liked what this author had to say and it got me thinking,

I looked up the word "blessed" in the dictionary and this is what I found:

adjective

1.

consecrated; sacred; holy; sanctified:

the Blessed Sacrament.

2.

worthy of adoration, reverence, or worship:

the Blessed Trinity.

3.

divinely or supremely favored; fortunate:

to be blessed with a strong, healthy body; blessed with an ability to find friends.

4.

blissfully happy or contented.

When we use the term in the sense I'm talking about, I think we usually mean it in regards to being divinely or supremely favored. I think it would be safe to say that many of us only say we're blessed when things are going well. We got that promotion. We got a new house. We got that new job. A friend or family member has been healed from illness. A prayer has been answered. A bill has been paid. Your husband remembered your birthday or brought you flowers and chocolate for no reason. Sure those are all blessings. But what about when things aren't going so well for us? What about when we get passed up for that promotion or the contract on the house fall through? When we don't get that new job, that friend or family member is not healed, our prayer goes unanswered, or your husband forgot your birthday or never brings you gifts just because? Are we still blessed? Well yes we are, but I will be bold and say that many of us don't tend to recognize it as readily in times of hardship.

This article also made me think about the times when good things happen and we share our "blessings," with others (which is super easy nowadays thanks to social media). How must that make others feel who might not be having such good times right now? When they scroll through their Facebook feed to see about a dozen #blessed statuses I bet it makes those hardships sting that much more. When times are hard do we look at the blessings of others and think we might not be blessed because things just aren't working out? Or maybe we're not as favored as others? I would venture to say we do, and that's a lie straight from the enemy.When I think of being blessed in terms of being "divinely or supremely favored; fortunate" I realize that I'm blessed in all circumstances no matter how good or bad. Why? Because Jesus Christ was born and then died to rescue me from my sins so that I may have eternal life in Him. I'm not sure how much more "divinely or supremely favored" one can get than that right there!

I'm not suggesting we should quit using this term altogether, but that maybe we should be considerate of how often we use it and under what circumstances. The hubs and I had a conversation about this and we decided we would purpose to only use the word "blessed" in times of hardship and that we would try to use words like "thankful" and "grateful" or even "undeserving" when referring to the "blessings" God has given us: His provision in our lives, the prayers He answers, the circumstances from which He delivers us, etc. We want to always remember that even when we are walking through a trial, we still have God's blessings in our lives. And whether we are in the valley or on the mountaintop, we are undeserving of all His gifts and we are always "divinely or supremely favored." And for that we are thankful and stand amazed at the goodness of our God.

Is God Good?

Is God good? I think that's probably a question that anyone facing adversity asks themselves. I know the answer to this. It's a resounding yes. How do I know? Because I've seen the evidence of God's goodness in my life more times than I can count. I've seen His goodness in the lives of others around me and I have read about His goodness in the Bible. But even though my heart knows the answer is yes I sometimes find myself still struggling with this when life gets hard or I'm praying for something an the answer is "no" or "wait" instead of the immediate "yes" I was looking for. I think (at least for me) the problem lies in comparison. When I begin to compare my life or my circumstances to the life and circumstances of those around me. I wonder why life seems to be so easy for some. Why things just seem to "work out" for others and not for me. And then I begin to ask those dangerous questions: What did I do wrong and why is God punishing me? Why doesn't He give me all the desires of my heart? It's when I find myself going in this direction that I have to get a little perspective so I stop and list the things in my life that are evidence of God's goodness. Things like my husband, our beautiful baby, a roof over our heads, a full refrigerator, a loving family, some pretty awesome friends, the godly legacy of my parents and grandparents, good health, my salvation, and the list goes on.

Even in the small trials God's goodness is evident. An example (and an update for those who want to know): Back in September we went to Memorial for Cason to have his modified Barium Swallow test. Thankfully it was not nearly as scary or traumatizing as I thought it would be and the feeding team at Memorial is made up of some wonderful ladies who are very knowledgeable, great with kids, and put us at ease right away. They had Cason sit in a little booster chair and I fed him a variety of things that had the Barium on it. While he ate and swallowed they took x-rays. He took everything like a champ and all things considered, did really well. The x-rays showed no abnormalities and no issues with swallowing. While he was eating, the therapists saw that he wasn't really chewing properly or enough and that he was unable to properly move the food to the back of his throat to swallow it. They said this lack of chewing skills in addition to his gag reflex and aversions to textures is causing the problem.  His diagnosis is "oral phase dysphagia." (Don't Google it, it's scary!)

The recommendation was food therapy to help him learn how to tolerate textures and handle solids. He had his first therapy session in October and it was pretty interesting. She gave us some things to try at home to slowly increase the texture and thickness of his food. She also gave us a little chewy tube he's supposed to chew on. He did really well with the foods we gave him, but we got too confident and he had an episode at the end of his session and threw everything up. While that always gives me anxiety, I am thankful it happened in front of the therapist so she could see what happens.

We just went back for his second session the week of Thanksgiving and she was very impressed with his progress. She said his chewing skills improved and that his lateral tongue movement is better which gives him better control over his food as he moves it around his mouth. He ate some things that two months ago would have cause him to gag and throw up. (Praise!) We have some new "homework" for this month and will see her again in a few weeks.

I think that recognizing God's goodness, even in the hard times and even in the little things (or maybe "especially" would be the better word), breeds thankfulness. And we sure do have a lot to be thankful for! While the progress is going to be slow we are thankful to have such a knowledgeable and patient therapist to work with us. While dealing with this can be stressful sometimes and often causes worry, we are thankful because we have a healthy, happy baby and in time, we know he will overcome this hurdle. In fact, just the other day he grabbed a (small) hunk off my Swiss Cake Roll (don't judge me!) and ate it with no problem! See the remnants below.....

We appreciate all the concern for Cason and everyone who checks in on how's he doing. Most of all we appreciate prayers for his improvement, our patience, and our continued faith that the Lord has a plan and in His abundant goodness and grace,  He's working all things for our good.

"For the Lord is good; His steadfast love endures forever, and His faithfulness to all generations."
Psalm 100:5