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Blessings All Over

Back when my now teenage kids were much smaller, my two daughters came down with a nasty cold. With all the sneezing going on, “Bless you!” was heard multiple times around our home. A few days later, three year old Karl came down with the cold but it became evident that he was a little confused about our custom. After a hefty sneeze left its mark on the front of his shirt, he exclaimed with obvious disgust, “Ick…I got a blessing all over me!”

As humorous as that is, I’ve learned that there is some truth in his misunderstanding. Sometimes the things that seem awfully messy in our lives are actually blessings in disguise. I recently reread a journal entry from my bout with appendicitis a few years ago. In it I was overflowing with thankfulness at the Lord’s provision of this impromptu interruption as it allowed me to slow down and make adjustments to the margins in my life. I’d been going fast and furious and had been crowding out some of the ‘important’ things for the ‘urgent’ things. My wife’s cancer a few years before that was also full of blessing for us, for our kids, and for many others who saw the hand of the Lord move in a mighty way. It was not exactly our choice of a vehicle for blessing, but looking back we could see God’s faithfulness through it all.

God somehow packs extra power in blessings that at first glance make us want to say, “Ick.” In a sin-marred world, the people around us are more able to see God’s reality when He leads us triumphantly through the tough times. That sounds a lot like the Cross.

May God mark your life with blessing—the kind that displays His character and goodness to a waiting world. And may your repeated response be, “Bless you,” to the One from whom all blessings flow!

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.
EPHESIANS 1:3 NIV

—Matt Anderson
Editorial Strategist

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