There have been times in my life when I just couldn’t see any blessing because of the trial I was going through. Trials, disappointments, pain, suffering, illness…they all have a way of robbing us of our joy and of our vision of the blessings that God continues to give us even in the midst of our chaotic surroundings.

At the time when my teenage sons began their downward spiral into addiction, I sank into a depression. My eyes could see nothing of joy, peace or goodness in my sons’ lives or mine. All I saw was gloom and doom but that’s not to say that there weren’t blessings in my life. I just chose not to see them and instead chose to focus on all the negatives in my life. All that accomplished was more negativity and more heartache.

As I saw my need for God in my life and began to read and study Scripture, I began to recognize my sinful attitude. Phil. 4:6-7 says, “Do not be anxious about anything but in everything by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” There are two words in the middle of that verse that are very easily over looked — “with thanksgiving.”  We usually skip over those words because we think we can’t find anything to be thankful for when our world is falling apart. There is even some part of us that wants to be wallowing in self pity. But even in the direst of circumstances, if we look, we will find God’s blessing.

For me, I began to look for any blessing I could find and then give thanks for it. Sometimes the blessing would be a smile on my son’s face, or that my sons were home and safe for the moment. I began to look at these sometimes fleeting moments as gold nuggets of blessing that I would hold in the palm of my hand, close my fingers tightly around it and just saver my blessing. There were times when it felt like there was only a gold crumb in the palm of my hand but it didn’t matter to me. I was holding on to that crumb and thanking God for it. There were times when my little crumb of blessing had to last a few days. But my attitude began to change – slowly. I guess it’s that old adage of an “attitude of gratitude.” There really is something to cultivating an attitude of gratitude. But it is something that you must consciously choose.

What is your gold nugget of blessing in your life today? Even in your pain, suffering, trial or sadness…they’re there, please don’t miss them. Search them out, hold them in the palm of your hand, saver them, and then praise and thank God for them. Soon you will be finding more and more gold nuggets of blessing. Choose to look for your blessing today.

Mary Ann

MaryAnn and John Kiernan have been married for 38 years, have 2 married sons and are the proud grandparents of three grandsons and two granddaughters and one grandchild on the way! She serves at America’s Keswick as a Biblical Counselor and also as Intake Coordinator for the Colony of Mercy. Her life verse is Romans 8:28.