Every Blessing

Our little Chloe. One of our special blessings.

One of my favorite hymns to sing is "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing." The lyrics describe a personal struggle in life and the recognition that our God is awesome, merciful and mighty.

Robert Robinson penned this hymn at the age of 22 in 1757. He had lost his father at an early age and fell in with a rowdy group of boys. There comes a day when we have to choose the direction that we want our lives to take. Do we want to be a blessing or a curse on this earth? Thankfully, Robert decided to be a blessing and was inspired to share his life's journey with this song.

It is always tempting to write about the dark side of life. But I am beginning to believe that we have had enough of the dark side and everyone wishes to see the sunshine again for a while.

Here are a few of my blessings that I would like to share with you:

(1) An Awesome God who is Merciful and Kind. He is the Greatest Craftsman of All Time. Every part of our being has been fine-tuned for love, function and joy.

(2) The friendship of my husband David.

(3) Family and Friends are my gold and silver.

(4 )My grandchildren are my rubies, diamonds and emeralds.

(5) The beauty of this world.

(6) Fierce Prayer Warriors.

(7) Acts of Kindness that are done in secret.

I won't include the entire hymn on this blog. But here are a couple lines from each stanza that I would like to share:

Stanza One Original Text:

"Come Thou Fount Of Every Blessing-Tune my heart to sing thy Grace."

Stanza Two:

"Here by Thy great help, I've Come- And I hope by Thy good pleasure, safely to arrive at home"

Stanza Three: "Jesus sought me when a stranger, wandering from the fold of God."

Stanza Four: Oh to Grace how great a debtor-Daily I'm constrained to be.

Sometimes it feels as though the thunder and lightning will go on forever. However,the real gifts and blessings existed long before the first storm clouds appeared in the sky.

Not every hymn writer led a charmed life. Many of them experienced loss through disaster, death or poverty. How on earth were they able to write such beautiful music and lyrics?

I believe that they answered a call that beckoned them to think beyond themselves. They triumphed over adversity when they recognized the True Source of their gifts and talents.

Finally, I am blessed because so many individuals have encouraged me to share my stories and thoughts. I can look back at my life and see all the wonderful people who provided support in the shaping of my adulthood. Good Samaritans who built me back up when I was weak and weary.

I feel blessed because redemption has met me at every turn of my life. We all make choices with the best of intentions and I was no different than anyone else.

I pray that blessings continue to be abundant in all our lives. The sun is willing to shine if you can wait out the storm.