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.