Believing in our Blessings

I called a friend this evening to talk about something that has been on my mind for awhile and the first thing she said to me was "Have you prayed about this?" before I could even talk about what was bothering me. I was able to answer yes!!! I was even able to tell her that I was not even mad, I just needed to take what was going on in my head and put it into words and get someone elses perspective to make sure I am on the right track. As I am talking, the longer I am talking, the less important this situation becomes to me. The more I talk the more I become focused on the many blessing that my life is filled with. It was so amazing! I started a conversation with a small bother that was making me uncomfortable to a feeling within me in minutes of how good I felt about how much God has given me in my life! I have such a wonderful loving husband. Two really good kids. A great church. A good job, very demanding but good. We always have enough money to pay the bills, put gas in our vehicles, and buy food. I have lots of very loving friends. I have a wonderful and supportive family. I have a nice home. I am in pretty good health compared to many. Why would I waste energy on anything other than the fact that I am blessed beyond measures and I have so much to be praising God for. So many times we focus on the tiny specks of negative that cloud our judgement or enter our minds, hearts, etc. and it only takes that speck to make us forget all the good that God has done. Think about when you have something in your eye how bad it hurts and how it feels like it is huge and you feel like you can not do anything else until you get it out of your eye. Your eyes are watering and you are absolutely miserable. You get what is in your eye out and you see that it is this tiny little thing that does not amount to anything that is causing you so much pain. It is a speck. When it is out you can see just fine but your eye is still red from irritation from that tiny little speck. What if you where wearing eye protection? You would not have the specks in your eyes. There would not be any lingering irritation. This is what God is trying to teach us by preparing ourselves with spending time with him in prayer and reading his word. We will have his protection so when the specks come at us we will not let them in! We are protected and they cannot irritate us. If they do we can handle them easier and the irritation does not last as long. I am so thankful that God never gives up on me! I have leaned on him so much lately and he has taught me so much about myself and I feel I am really growing. It is painful, there is no room for pride at all but I know from experience recently when I started removing specks from my eye, the world has become a more beautiful place!