GUEST BLOGGER FOR THE MONTH OF MAY: Thanking God For Blessings in Disguise

When I was asked to be a guest blogger I was a little caught off guard, hesitant, and uneasy about the entire thing until I sat down and thought about the role that God has played in my life.  I can honestly say that this past year has been one of the toughest but it has also been extremely rewarding.  For those of you who don't know me, I am extremely shy and an introvert and something such as expressing my feelings or beliefs or experiences to strangers is already a huge test to my faith.  So here we go!....

For starters, I have just completed my first year in college!!! There was a time when I didn't think that I would make it through because it is challenging and outside of my comfort zone.  However, God has always shown me that light at the end of the tunnel when I couldn't see it for myself.  For example, in one of my English classes I was feeling defeated and overwhelmed because everything was coming to me at once.  It also didn't help that I had already formed the attitude of, "I just can't do this" in my head before I even began.  And I was so stressed out that I would pray for a miracle because it just wasn't clicking in my head.  Well upon completion of that class and those countless papers, I received a final grade of an A in that class.  Even now I am not even sure how it happened, but I just know that it was God every step of the way.  He helped to change my attitude, and in turn his miracle that he performed only strengthened my faith and trust in him.  Prayer really does change things! And I am not just thankful that God blessed me with an A, but I am even more thankful that God heard and answered my prayer.

God has also blessed me with more motivation as he has blessed our family with a new baby this year.  It's so easy to have a lack of motivation but God has found a way to keep me grounded striving for greatness.  It's one thing to slack in life when you're just living for yourself, but everything changes when you have someone looking up to you.  That's when I remember how God uses experiences to place things into perspective for us.  He wants us to continue to strive for our successes, to strive to serve others, and to strive to be better people and sometimes he has to give us those blessings in disguise.  I think blessings in disguise are another factor that triggers our faith.  As life slowly unfolds and people are placed into our lives and others taken out of lives, we are given that chance to appreciate people for who they are.  I am so thankful that God placed my nephew into my life because he is a constant reminder of love, hope, and peace.  Although the circumstances may not have been great, my nephew has given me a new sense of hope.  He gives me hope just like prayer gives me hope.  He is a blessing that God decided to bless my family with.  

Yesterday was my birthday and it was milestone.  I decided to incorporate my entire family into my birthday this year (previous years it was some family and friends) and it was just a great feeling to be surrounded by love.  I am thankful for the bonds that my family and I have formed over this past year from the highs to the lows.  Although I'm not too happy about the lows I thank God for them because they have made me value everything in my life.  Life is so short so any chance that I get I try to make the best of any moment.  This includes: mending strained relationships, ending burdensome relationships, and establishing healthy relationships.  Now when things go wrong, I thank God for the experience because I know there has to be a lesson involved...my blessing in disguise.

Overall, I may not always go to church or always read the bible, but I know that God loves and cares for me because I make sure I pray and God always blesses me.  Even when I don't deserve it God seems to be always on my side.  As I sit back and reflect on this past year and celebrate a new year of great things, I am just thankful for everything!  I am thankful for the lessons that I'm learning and will continue to learn.  I am thankful for the growth that is coming my way.  And I am certainly thankful for the blessings in disguise that are happening at this very moment.  Although I thank God daily, just reflecting on this past year has caused me to give him the highest thanks.  So many other people have it worse and as long as I am reminded of that, I'll continue to thank God for his blessings in my life.  And when things don't go my way, I'll thank God anyway because, "this too shall pass."

2 Corinthians 4: 17-18 “For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long.  Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever.  So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen.  For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.” (NLT)

GUEST BLOGGER FOR THE MONTH OF MAY: DIAMOND