by Lydia Floren

Blessings can be much harder to handle than hardship. When God blesses us, if we do not immediately (and often) acknowledge that it is Him at work, we can quickly come to believe one of Satan’s whispered lies:

“You know, God had nothing to do with this. You did this yourself. You deserve this.”

We abandon God’s leading and return to our old way of thinking:  God is not good, He does not care.  We reject our growing connection with Him—our focus on following Him– and resort to self-dependence.

“I must do what I think will make me happy, and will make me feel good about myself.” 

So, in good times as well as hard times, it is helpful to remember:

• What we think will make us happy—pleasure, power and pride—only makes us more miserable. The momentary rush from these things is replaced by long term emptiness and gnawing discontent.
• When our lives are spent trying to impress or please others–or ourselves–we are enslaved in the worst kind of way.
• The only way to joy, contentment, peace, purpose, and long-lasting blessing is to follow the Father who loves you more than He loved His own son’s life. And to do so with an attitude of anticipation and trust.
• That means accepting “no” and “not now” exactly in the same way we accept “yes”: with gratitude, knowing that God IS good, and DOES have your best in mind, and fervently wants you to overflow with joy and contentment and the passion of a high calling.
• God loves, loves, loves to give good gifts to His precious children. And He knows what is truly good.

God loves you. He really does.

What do you do to remind yourself that God truly has your best interest at heart?