Thursday, April 18, 2013

Seeking Unseen Blessings & Praising God

If you are a Christian chances are that you've prayed at least a few times in your Christian life.  Or at least I hope you have.  Have you ever thought about which you do more, pray or praise?

Let me give you a definition for of both, so that you can get a clear picture of what I'll be talking about here. 

Prayer: It's when you talk one on one with God.  You tell him anything, ask him to help you in life with trials.  You ask for anything, such as comfort, strength, wisdom, money, safety, health, and the list goes on.  

Praise: Thanking God or worshiping Him for the blessing of life and the many others.  

Now do you see the difference in the two?  Good!  Let's continue then! :)  

To personally answer the question I asked in the beginning of this post, I admit I pray to God far more than I praise Him.  

Does this mean that we're not grateful for all of His blessings to us big or small?  Not necessarily. Us as humans tend to focus more around the negative in life, sometimes we get so off track with our problems we lose sight of all the many blessings surrounding us.  We get so wrapped up in the bad in life that when we find those few moments to talk to God we pray, asking him to help us and solve our problems that are just too big for us.  Now there is absolutely nothing wrong with asking God for help, and running to him for every problem the world throws at you. He wants you to turn to Him when in need of help.   However, when we do this we forget to thank God and praise Him for all the good things he's given us in life.  

Say you volunteered to tend to someone's yard.  You put all your time and effort into this project, wanting everything to work out and be perfect.  You mowed the lawn, pulled the weeds, watered the flowers and made the yard spanking new looking!  You aren't expecting a reward, you just did it simply out of the generosity of your heart.  You wanted to bless this person and see them happy.  
When the homeowner came back, they walked right by your hard work.  Seeing none of it.  Showing you no appreciation at all.  You'd feel sad inside, right?  

It's similar to that with God.  He doesn't expect a grand prize for blessing you.  He blesses you with the things he gives you because He knows it's what is best for you and all he wants is to see you happy.  When we let our blessings slip right on by going unseen He feels sad.  He gives you every single breath you breath and all he's asking in return is that you give him some time in your days to thank Him and praise him!  

Sometimes it seems like we're drowning in problems, but the real truth is we aren't seeking the blessings hard enough! To find all His blessings for us we have to intentionally seek them out.  Instead of calling out all the bad, spot all the good!  

We most often miss the biggest blessing there is!   Our own life!  Every day you wake up is a gift from God himself.  He didn't have to wake you up today, yesterday or the day before. He can take you off this earth any moment.  We forget to praise God for each day He's given us here on earth.  
I found a quote on the internet a couple years ago and ever since it's had me thinking more about how I should praise God more! 

"What if all you had tomorrow was what you thanked God for today?" 

I strongly encourage you to write that down on a sticky note and hang it above your bed, post it on your mirror, the door, the refrigerator, wherever your most likely to see it daily to remind you of how much you should really praise God.  

Seek His blessings and this will become an easy task to take on after doing often.  
Praise Him even through the storms in your life that you think you won't be able to overcome.  I can assure you there is always a blessing in it all, a lesson to be learned somewhere in it..always


Psalms 150: "Praise the LORD! Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens! Praise him for his mighty deeds; praise him according to his excellent greatness! Praise him with trumpet sound; praise him with lute and harp! Praise him with tambourine and dance; praise him with strings and pipe! Praise him with sounding cymbals; praise him with loud clashing cymbals! Let everything that has breath praise the LORD! Praise the LORD!"

My challenge to you is that you will seek out blessings and praise more, I can't promise you it will be easy.  At least not at first but once you get the hang of it I think it will amaze you at how blessed you really are and maybe didn't even realize it.    

A fun DIY I have here for you is that with every blessing you find that you didn't see before that you will write it down on a sticky note or write it in a notebook and keep track of all of them.  When it comes time for you to praise God you'll have all the reminders you need. And please, take pictures and email them to me!  I would LOVE to see them!   So if that's something your comfortable doing then email me @ MoreThanThisGirlsBlog@gmail.com just label it "Kaitlyn" or "Blessing Notes" and I'll know it's to me.


Thank you so much for taking the time to read this! Feel free to share!


Blessings,



Contact me @ MoreThanThisGirlsBlog@Gmail.com 

Tuesday, April 2, 2013

The Waiting Game

Oh the waiting game, I think it's safe to say that no one likes waiting.  We would all just prefer that it (Whatever the situation my be) would just happen.   Especially when it comes to finding "The One"!  We all see our friends with their significant others, or even their spouses (Depending on your age.) and long to have that special person.  

Sometimes what we forget is that God will bring us that "Special Person" in His perfect timing.  Not a day late, or a day too soon.   He knows when each of us are ready, and mature enough to handle a relationship, with that person.   He also may have other things that He needs us to focus on before, He puts that person in our lives.

Kaitlyn, and I (Alyssa) often joke around because we have dreams about our future spouses, but can never see their faces!  We can see from the neck down and that's it.  It drives us insane!  Regardless of whether this is just a strange issue we have when we dream, or whether it's God keeping our future men a secret.  We always laugh when we have these dreams.

Anywho, back on topic.  The waiting game can be hard, and sometimes we want to stop waiting and just grab whatever is out their and available.  But we need to remember to guard out hearts, and keep our minds pure.  Going for a guy just because he's an "Option" at the time can be very dangerous, and not a wise decisions.  Always pray, consult God, and read scripture to see what you should do.

You want someone that is going to build you up, and bring you closer to God.  Not someone that constantly tears you down, and drags you away from God.  That is one of the most important things to pay attention to.

All things worth having are worth waiting for! :)

"Above all else guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life." Proverbs 4:23