Count Your Blessings

  This time of year is so busy with holiday celebrations, shopping, cooking and getting homes ready for family time, we tend to forget what we are actually doing all of these things for. Thanksgiving is the perfect time to reflect on the blessings we have in our life-- from our families to employment to our friends who support us. It is so easy to go through the day and ask God to help you with this or that, but it is harder to take time to focus and tell Him the things for which you are thankful. Dr. Charles Stanley, a well-known Christian writer and minister, says in a recent devotion:

  “Thanksgiving refreshes our souls as we spend time with God, concentrating on His goodness and grace. Anxiety is replaced with peace, and despondency with joy. If you wake up each morning and thank the Lord for deliverance from the power of sin, provision for all your needs, and guidance for the day ahead, what is left to cause worry or discouragement?

  To establish a habit of thanksgiving, recall God’s loving kindness in the morning, and recount His faithfulness at night. Thank Him for blessings—and also for the deep work He is doing in you through difficulties. As you start to see situations from His perspective, your gratitude and trust will grow.”

  How great would it be to go through the day with fewer anxieties and fear about situations? Developing this habit of focusing on blessings and the positives could have a powerful influence on people’s attitudes and perspectives. Now you ask: How can we apply this to our daily lives working with at-risk children? 

1.       Pray for your residents and coworkers often….but also remember to thank God for the blessings you receive from them daily.

2.      Focus on positives with your residents---try to catch them doing good things! This will eventually become habit and they will begin to see themselves in a more positive light.

3.       Being a part of the team at HopeTree is hard work—no matter what role you play!! Sometimes we just don’t have the answers about how to help the children we serve. We worry, stress, obsess and personalize their problems until we are so stressed out it affects our work and maybe even our health. Dr. Stanley says thanksgiving “refreshes our souls.” Maybe some of the stress of the job will start to be a little less intense if we start thanking God beforehand for the love, guidance and peace we receive from Him daily-- and then see how the day goes! What a blessing it would be at the end of the day to thank God for helping us through a difficult situation! How incredible would it be to start seeing things through God’s perspective, as Dr. Stanley says.

  So, remember to count your blessings daily. God has blessed each of us in different ways, but remember - the most important blessing he gave to us is his Son. Let’s concentrate on that this Thanksgiving and Christmas seasons and remember the sacrifice He made for us.

 Michelle Wright, MSW

 Sr. Director of Social Services