Reflecting Back On Our Past Blessings

Some of you may have seen my post the other day on FB about how my sweet devotional time with our girls before school began brought us to tears (except for our 4 year old--she didn't quiet understand what all the big deal was) That day was probably the SWEETEST devotional time I'd ever spent with our girls. I had their attention, I had their minds, I had their hearts...which in turn had us in tears :-) Showers of Blessings!

We were talking about how THINGS just don't make us happy. I just got the girls (well, they paid for most of it with Christmas monies grandma/pa gave them but I pitched in a little too) Thirty-One bags. Have you heard of THIRTY-ONE? Well, if you haven't, and you decide to check it out...you'll love them. If you like organization, you'll love THIRTY-ONE. So now I'm hooked on Scentsy (for which I sell hint hint lol) and Thirty-One (for which I DO NOT sell but LOVE)

Anyways, I mentioned how they were just so excited about getting their Thirty-One bags. They would anticipate each day for the UPS man to come (and a few days he did come to our house--with more Scenty of coarse and they were sorely disappointed) Oh the excitement went on for days and FINALLY the day arrived that the UPS man showed up with a BOX that said THIRTY-ONE on it. Oh, they screamed, they jumped, they yelled. I had to tell them to BE QUIET until the UPS man leaves. Oh the anticipation of it all and then they arrive. Oh, they love their bags and I love mine too (in fact just ordered me some MORE purses/skirts for my purse) BUT those THINGS don't make us happy.

So we went on with the devotional I was giving them and we got to thinking about what really matters. We started reflecting BACK on our past blessings. I started sharing with the girls in a "Remember when..." type conversation:

Remember when...mommy was SICK in bed for ELEVEN LONG days. I had to go to the ER a couple times. I wanted to DIE at one point...honestly. I had the flu, pnemonia (spelling probably off there---my weakness), had a touch of the stomach bug as well...if it was going around I HAD IT! It was terrible. My poor husband (who was self-employed at the time) had to take off work for a week to care for me. SO being self-employed if you're not working you're not bringing in the green stuff :-) The next week a precious widow from our church came and stayed during the day so my husband would go to work. I stayed locked up in the bedroom. During that time, people from our church brought meals, goodie baskets for the girls, magazines,...you name it we got it. I felt so OVER blessed. You ever felt like that? One night...we had 3-4 meals brought to our house. Yes...most of the time people would call and say "Is anyone bringing anything for dinner today?" and we would know. Well, this particular evening, it was like every 30 minutes someone showed up. So we so graciously took it (ended up freezing some and had to call friends--who we felt could use a blessing to come get some of the food) It was AMAZING. Then it doesn't end there. The first day I was able to be up...now...when I say BE UP..I was able to sit in a chair and that was it. I had NO strength at all. Someone called and said they were coming over to bring us some groceries. You talk about a BLESSING...husband self employed (lawn service at that and this was in March so it really hadn't picked up a lot at that point so things were tight); I had been so sick I couldn't function as a wife/mom. I will NEVER forget that time in my life. We saw God work in ways that just seemed impossible.

So at that point...we are all in tears as I'm reflecting back with our girls about HOW GOOD GOD is and HOW HE cares for us and HOW HE PROVIDES...

then I went on and told them the story of when we had NO monies to go home Christmas but KNOWING our parents wanted us home. (of coarse you NEVER let on to mom and dad you are broke. When we say BROKE...we are BROKE...unlike other people who say BROKE...that's just a time they have to dip into their 401K and they don't make a dent in it lol) So we went to church on the Wed night for the girls Christmas program. When we got home, I was going through my church bag and I saw this envelope. I hadn't noticed it in there. I had no clue where it came from. I opened it and as I opened the card....guess what fell out? MONEY!!!!!!!!! Yes, enough to get us home.

You know, ladies, it does us good to just stop and reflect back on our past blessings. I am SO thankful for the MANY blessings God continues to send our way. We are so undeserving but HE STILL BRINGS US MORE AND MORE BLESSINGS!

So have you spent time lately reflecting back on your past blessings? It will send you an extra blessing when you do just remember how GOD always provides and how HE always meets our needs.