the face of a blessing

What does a blessing look like? Is it a neat and tidy little package, gift wrapped with a pretty little bow on top? It can be, but is it usually? NO!

Now take for example my buddy, Ron. He and his beautiful wife Sarah just received a wonderful blessing in the form of little Miss Chloe (2 1/2 weeks old) which is easy to see as a blessing. She is beautiful and as perfect as a baby could be (crying all night long and everything). But did that blessing come with no pain? No. There is a tremendous sacrifice on the parts of both parents, but the end result of the blessing is worth it.

God's chosen people, Israel, had been promised the land of Canaan. This would be a near paradise on earth. After He had demonstrated His power through numerous plagues and countless miracles, when they got to the threshold of Canaan, they still fell apart on God. They were looking for the gift wrapping and the bow, but instead, they found the land inhabited with giants. God told them that they were to engage the Canaanites in battle and that He would give them the victory in the battle! After He had already parted the Red Sea and allowed them to cross on dry land while crushing the Egyptian army for them right before their eyes, they still doubted. God was going to show the world His power through the victory of the Israelites while growing the character of all of Israel at the same time. Because they couldn't go through the growth phase of receiving their blessing, their blessing was delyed forty years and the ones who were alive at that point would not live through the forty years to enter the land of their blessing, but their children would receive it instead.

There will be times in your life that God will have a blessing that He is wanting to pour out all over you, but you will have some steps to go through to grow your character so that you can handle receiving God's blessings. Just like Israel, when we find out about the blessing to come, we are not quite ready to receive it. We have to grow first and then receive. By the time Israel got into their promised land, they were t hen ready to receive it.

God has been carrying out this principal in my life for quite awhile now. He has revealed to me that there is a blessing that He wants to pour out on me, but He has had to grow my character quite extensively over these months to prepare me to receive. Growth doesn't come from puppies and pillows and everything fun and comfortable! Think of it as a raw piece of iron being turned into a usable tool such as a sword. That piece of iron would be put in the fire and under the hammer NUMEROUS times before it could "grow" into that usable tool. We grow the same way! It is the difficult, the uncomfortable, the unplanned, the seemingly overwhelming, and the usually unwanted events in our lives that generate that increase in character. Not the days that go smoothly according to plan.

Now for the part that comes after the growth has taken place. You are to praise Him for what is to come, because once God has said it, it is so. Then after you have received His blessing, you are not to just sit and bask in the glow of what you have received. You are to continue to praise Him, continue to seek Him, and always look for occasions to bless others as well. You will never fully receive until you have given.

I believe I am in the final stages now. I continue seeking ways to praise Him for what is coming. I am here to declare before the whole world that I thank you Lord for the blessing you have said will come. I believe You when You say that you will provide, so I give all I have to You. All my love, all my appreciation, all of me I give to You, Father. Thank you for being the One who was and is and is to come! I thank you Father for counting me worthy to be grown for use in your Kingdom. Because I know it is not any worth that I have accumulated, but the value placed on me by the shed blood of Jesus Christ! Thank you, Father!

Thank Him anytime He counts you worthy of being grown, even though the growth process will not seem like it..........it is a blessing in itself!