Blessings Journal or Blessings Jar?

The last few posts we’ve been talking about ways we can stay focused on God’s PROMISES instead of life’s problems. Today I want to talk about focusing on the blessings God gives us in life. He gives blessings to all of us, multiple times a day. Some may be huge; others may be smaller, but all blessings deserve to be acknowledged and the One who gave them to us to enjoy deserves to be praised and thanked for them.

January 2020 our family was given a gift by my prayer partner: a prayer jar. We started using it right away, writing down prayers and thanking God ahead of time for the answers. When the pandemic hit, I took the prayers out and set them aside, deciding instead to write down blessings we experienced during this period in our lives. It was important to me that we focused as a family on all the good God was bringing about during a time the enemy meant for evil instead of the panic and fear that would be natural reactions to what the world was experiencing.

This idea was presented to me years earlier, when I was invited to start a blessings journal. An ordinary notebook, really, where I write down different blessings God has given each day. Some days it may be as simple as finding a parking spot instead of having to circle the block three times first. Other days it might be “thank You, God, today’s over and I can start fresh tomorrow.” Still other days it might be bigger such as “thank You, God for sparing me from getting in a horrific accident when that car came out of nowhere.” The purpose of the journal is to recognize and thank God for the blessings He gives, each and every day.

What about you? Do you want to start a blessings jar in your household or what about starting with a blessings journal? It doesn’t have to be fancy; simple will do.

Last Christmas we pulled out our blessings jar and read through the blessings God gave us during the crazy 2020 year. I chose to stay thankful for all He brought us through, all He blessed us with, and am choosing to remember to stay focused on His PROMISES in 2021, not life’s problems.

The problems will always be there…but His PROMISES will always too!

© Cheri Swalwell 2021