God Blesses Us

Just wanted to start off by apologizing for my lack of posts recently. My life has just gotten ridiculously busy and I haven’t found time. This is going to be kind of a short post, but I hope you enjoy it!

I came across a verse the other day that has had this incredible impact on me, unlike any other verse I have read before. The thing is, I have read this verse and the book it is from so many times, I cannot even remember. I came across James 1:12 when I was trying to find a verse to send out for my daily Bible verse. It was in a different translation then the Bible that I read, which is why I think it caught my attention. It says:

God blesses those who patiently endure testing and temptation. Afterward they will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.

The first word that stuck out to me is “blesses.” I tend to just kind of skip over this word and never really think about it, yet it has so much meaning behind it. Think about this. The God of the universe blesses us sinning human beings. How crazy awesome is that? In the dictionary, a blessing is defined as “to confer prosperity or happiness upon.” God looks at us sinning humans and is like “I want to confer (bring) happiness upon these people.” SO COOL.

God blesses those who PATIENTLY endure testing and temptation. I think that patiently is the key word here. I tend to have this idea in my head that God is going to put me through testing and temptation, but it won’t really last that long. I just have to deal with it for a little bit and then I will be blessed. The thing is, God has this plan, this idea that we know nothing of. Patiently enduring our tests and temptations only further show how much we trust and believe that God is in control. Patience is something that I have been blessed with when it comes to children, especially special needs kids. I absolutely love working with them and people tell me how patient I must be to deal with kids on a regular basis. To me, this patience is natural. I never even noticed it until someone pointed it out to me. This is how I want to be when it comes the trials and tribulations in my life. I want my first reaction to be patiently enduring them and constantly relying on God to get me through them.

The last sentence of this verse is so powerful. We will receive the crown of life. A life with God in Heaven. How amazing is that? What is even better is that God PROMISED this. And we all know that God would never break a promise. That is so encouraging for me to know that I will receive the crown of life and all I have to do is love God with all my heart.

This verse has definitely gotten me through some stressful weeks in college and I hope that it will help you with whatever you have going on in your life as well!

God Bless and have a wonderful week!