{"id":336,"date":"2014-07-09T23:22:32","date_gmt":"2014-07-10T04:22:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/belovedlove.org\/reflections\/?p=336"},"modified":"2019-05-17T14:47:44","modified_gmt":"2019-05-17T19:47:44","slug":"difficulty-blessings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/belovedlove.org\/reflections\/2014\/07\/09\/difficulty-blessings\/","title":{"rendered":"The Difficulty of Blessings"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" title=\"Photo by PublicDomainPictures\" src=\"http:\/\/belovedlove.org\/reflections\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/a6a72433477e6859a685ffaf_640_wheat.jpg\" alt=\"wheat photo\" \/><\/p>\n<p><em>by Lydia Floren<\/em><\/p>\n<p>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\u2019s whispered lies:<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cYou know, God had nothing to do with this. You did this yourself. You deserve this.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>We abandon God\u2019s leading and return to our old way of thinking: \u00a0God is not good, He does not care.\u00a0 We reject our growing connection with Him\u2014our focus on following Him&#8211; and resort to self-dependence.<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cI must do what I think will make me happy, and will make me feel good about myself.\u201d\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/belovedlove.org\/reflections\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/giftspreciouschildren-lg.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-338\" src=\"http:\/\/belovedlove.org\/reflections\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/giftspreciouschildren-lg.jpg\" alt=\"God loves to give good gifts to His precious children\" width=\"735\" height=\"735\" srcset=\"https:\/\/belovedlove.org\/reflections\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/giftspreciouschildren-lg.jpg 735w, https:\/\/belovedlove.org\/reflections\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/giftspreciouschildren-lg-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/belovedlove.org\/reflections\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/giftspreciouschildren-lg-300x300.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 735px) 100vw, 735px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<h3>So, in good times as well as hard times, it is helpful to remember:<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>What we think will make us happy\u2014pleasure, power and pride\u2014only makes us more miserable. The momentary rush from these things is replaced by long term emptiness and gnawing discontent.<\/li>\n<li>When our lives are\u00a0spent trying to impress or please others&#8211;<a title=\"Facing My Failures, Embracing God\u2019s Grace\" href=\"http:\/\/belovedlove.org\/reflections\/2014\/05\/26\/facing-failures-embracing-gods-grace\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">or ourselves<\/a>&#8211;we are enslaved in the worst kind of way.<\/li>\n<li>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\u2019s life. And to do so with an attitude of anticipation and trust.<\/li>\n<li>That means accepting \u201cno\u201d and \u201cnot now\u201d exactly in the same way we accept \u201cyes\u201d: <a title=\"Wind Chimes\" href=\"http:\/\/belovedlove.org\/reflections\/2014\/06\/15\/wind-chimes\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">with gratitude<\/a>, 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.<\/li>\n<li>God loves, loves, loves to give good gifts to His precious children. And He knows what is truly good.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>God loves you. He really does.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/belovedlove.org\/reflections\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/james-1-17-blessings.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-397 aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/belovedlove.org\/reflections\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/james-1-17-blessings.jpg\" alt=\"james 1 17 blessings\" width=\"600\" height=\"100\" srcset=\"https:\/\/belovedlove.org\/reflections\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/james-1-17-blessings.jpg 600w, https:\/\/belovedlove.org\/reflections\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/james-1-17-blessings-300x50.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/a><em><strong>What do you do to remind yourself that God truly has your best interest at heart?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>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\u2019s whispered lies: \u201cYou know, God had nothing to do with this. You did this yourself. You [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[99,6,33,24,53,63],"class_list":["post-336","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-following-god","tag-gods-love","tag-kindness","tag-thankfulness","tag-trust-in-god","tag-waiting"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The Difficulty of Blessings - Belovedlove<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Blessings can be much harder to handle than hardship. 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