E-couragement 07.28

Abundant Blessings: I want them! Who wouldn’t honestly say they wanted abundant blessings. In fact, it is biblical to want them and God has “promised” to provide them. When a King promises, take it to the bank. When “The King” promises, how can you ever doubt? The problem seems to center around the definition of abundance and blessing.

I asked a group of business owners I was leading through a Kingdom company building process to share the blessings that God had provided in their life. Family, good health, a good church and pastor, a successful business; are the blessings they listed. A dear friend and brother, Tony Collins, shared the story of his daughter Lanier who was born with both autism and a mild form of retardation. He said that Lanier was one of his greatest blessings. How could that be? How could something that has caused a lot of challenges and hardships be considered a blessing? Tony explained that as he lay beside Lanier at night, calming her so she could drop off to sleep, that he understood more deeply the love our Father has for him. The joy that Lanier brought, the unconditional love she demonstrated and the sheer beauty of her countenance were his blessing.

When business turns south as it often does, when illness or financial stress or career shocks jolt us out of our complacency is it possible that through that process the Lord is blessing us? I look back on my life and the toughest times were the times when the Lord was all I had to fall back on…and He kept His promises throughout. My wife Sara, who was eight months pregnant, was badly injured in a car accident, hit head on by a drunk driver; and near the end of the ordeal, a lawyer for the insurance company asked her how much distress the accident had caused her. She replied, “It was one of the most painful things I have ever endured and it was one of the greatest blessings. God was always so close through it all.” We call that abiding. We call that grace.

Can we really abide in the midst of the tyranny of business? While it is very hard, it is also the only place we need to be, in the midst of the storm – in the midst of the abiding love of God. All too often I am like the Israelites of old, who ran to God in the midst of trouble and took things into their own hands when things were going well.  Business blessings I want. Business troubles I don’t. But business troubles may be the way God is going to bless me, shut off my avenue of escape and drive me back into his abiding presence. “You will face troubles of many kinds in this life” Jesus said. Now God either causes or allows the troubles in our life, but he is never surprised by them, even the ones caused by our own foolishness or error. But with the warning of trouble, He also tells us that He will “never leave us or forsake us.” Can there be a better blessing than that?

“Father, help me to see the blessings for what they accomplish in my life; even the ones that arise through trial and trouble. Help me to be there for others when they struggle, that I may be a blessing to them. Let me abide in you and abide in your blessings. Amen.”