Count Up the Good
By Amanda Idleman
Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits. – Psalm 103:2
Life can get heavy. We each start our days with a “patience tank,” and it seems that as the day goes on, that tank gets depleted down to empty. Sometimes, that tank can hit empty before seven am if you have demanding kids who wake up before the sun rises. Stress depletes our patience and joy. Over time, if we don’t get a break from those patience-draining days, we can feel ourselves facing burnout, and then our tank is underfilled before the day even begins. We just can’t catch up and find ourselves not being the people we want to be. Instead, we see a frantic, angry, impatient, and very frustrated version of ourselves emerge so much more than we’d like.
As I’ve been wading through this dynamic in my life as a mom, I’ve found myself feeling very discouraged. When I review my day, all I see are my failures. I am fixated on how I should have been kinder to my child, more diligent with another kid, or more loving in general. I’ve just been stuck on the idea that I’m not good enough for this life I’ve been given.
The other day I was once again taking a mental recap of what I should have done better as a parent when the Holy Spirit stopped me with his whisper voice. He told me to write down what I did okay as a Mom that day and maybe even just over this past year and a half since we’ve become a family of seven through foster care and adoption.
My list began with simple things like waking up to take my kids to their swim meet, making sure everyone had food for breakfast, celebrating my kids’ wins with food and ice cream, and making sure my younger kids were cared for on this busy day. These are things I mostly look over as a parent, the ways I serve and give every day in my home. Instead, I am constantly working on my life improvement plan, but God wants me to stop and see that there is good in my days as a parent. He can even help me appreciate the hard-growing moments that happen because they are part of our family.
This is not to overlook our need to apologize when we mess up and change our behavior when we are stuck. But the enemy of our souls wants to bog us down in our not-enoughness that we can’t see how we, with God, we are more than overcomers! Discouragement breeds hopelessness, which halts our ability to live by faith.
So if you are stuck in a season of discouragement it’s time to start counting up the good. We bless the Lord when we make note of his goodness and beauty at work in our life. He doesn’t want us to forget to see his benefits.
Maybe parenthood isn’t your hard place, but work is. Start to note the ways you are blessing your company, coworkers, and doing what you can to excel in your job. It could be that you are discouraged as a spouse or maybe as a daughter, son, friend, and the list goes on. The real truth is that we each offer value to the places we are because we are made in the image of God. While the struggle of life is real, the blessings that come through us are good.
Intersecting Faith & Life:
Start a daily list of how you are doing okay in an area where you have felt discouraged. I say okay because sometimes we are too discouraged to even use the word “good.” These things don’t need to be major wins but tiny ways that you showed up and served well. Give God glory for the blessings he has given you.
Next, make a list of what has been weighing on you. Maybe it’s a lack of patience, depression, anxiety, a need for wisdom, or something else. Pray over this need and hand it to Jesus. Ask him to show him what tools you need and what steps to take, but let go of the shame you’ve been carrying around. His grace is sufficient to cover our needs.
Further Reading:
Count ‘Em By Brandon Lake
A Morning Prayer to Count Your Blessings - Your Daily Prayer - February 25
Counting Our Blessings Cultivates a Grateful Heart
Photo Credit: ©GettyImages/Ralf Geithe
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