COUNTING BLESSINGS

COUNTING BLESSINGS- A little reminder

I love period piece movies. Anything set in the 17th or 18th or 19th century sets my heart a flutter. I love the costumes and the bucolic English countrysides and the grand manors of that time. I love the idea of sitting by a fire and the idea of courting and the idea of long walks even in chilly weather. I love the idea of it all, but I would never want to have been born back then. I like the conveniences of the life I live too much! And I count all those conveniences as blessings, for sure!

I like air conditioning and facetime and a vermin free home. I count washing machines and cars and vacuum cleaners and dishwashers and curling irons as blessings! 

I’m grateful for the servers and cooks and dishwashers at my favorite restaurants! As well as the amazing woman who cuts my hair and “puts sunshine in it” every 8 weeks! I love books and pens with ink and podcasts and iPhones and Fed Ex! And I am sooo grateful for my Keurig and a great cup of coffee!

Germ theory and Google Maps and Temperdic beds and non-iron shirts are not only awe inspiring miracles but on my list of blessings! And so are smiles from my grandchildren and holding hands with my husband and every morning sunrise and seeing the first robin in late winter and breathing without thinking. 

Big and small. Blessing come in all sizes. We often recognize the big things and events in our lives and the blessings that go along with them. But everyday ordinary miracles are no less marvelous! They are all around us and with us and in us every second of every day!

Blessings upon blessings. In good times and in bad. In joy and deep grief. In peace and in strife. Time or circumstance do not change the benevolent blessings of our loving Father!  Our perspective may obscure us from seeing them. We just need to look for them to find them!

And find them we will! 

Today start looking for God’s blessings in your life. At all times and in all ways. And acknowledge them! Just like the stars… they just might be too numerous to count!

This week’s memorization verse:

And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. 2 Corinthians 9:8

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51 Comments

  1. Jan Cochran says:

    You and I must be sisters as I too enjoy these blessings and more besides!!! I love olde English movies also( esp Poldark. Series on
    Amazon) while God’s blessings are all around us we must take time to see them, enjoy them and most of all thank God for them.
    One of my favorite thing s to do is lay down on a blanket at night and look up at the stars -too numerous to count.
    God’s blessings are just like that.

  2. Jonne Molesky says:

    I am enjoying the peace and quiet at our cabin along with the beauty of nature! The cabin has been in our family for over 50 years and we are blessed to own it!

  3. I am with you all the way on this one …. we don’t need to look far to see the work of our Father and the blessings HE bestows upon us daily. Focussing on HIS blessings helps us see through the difficult times … it gives us comfort that HE is there. God bless.

  4. Dianne Lanier says:

    God’s blessings abound every where we look! Thank you for reminding us to look for them. Have a wonderful day.

  5. Mary Mutz says:

    As I sit on day 30 in a hospital waiting for my 95 year old father to recover enough to go home from a femur break and hip replacement I have had much time to ponder the blessings we all take for granted. Walking, movement in bed, brushing teeth, showers without assistance, going to the bathroom and my own home outside these hospital walls. Everyday has a gift in it for us to receive if we only stand still for a moment to receive it. Thank goodness God is holding on to me and my father or I could not do what I am doing. Never will I gripe again about the mundane, everyday things I do each day because in an instant life could change. Each day is a gift, we just have to unwrap it.

  6. Our Lord is so good to us, we could never thank Him for all that He does for us. His blessings to us every day, small and large. Just praise His wonderful name .

    1. Lorri Rauscher says:

      So true and nicely said. AMEN!!

  7. lovely reminder…thanks!

  8. Amen to all that! Before my husband retired i ironed many things for him. :/ I always used that time to thank God that i still had my husband to iron for. 🙂 I enjoy your Sunday posts best! God bless you, Yvonne.

    1. This speaks to me, Nancy. I iron my husbands dress shirts, etc. And boy do I hate ironing! But, I will remember, as you said, to be thankful that I still have my husband. Great reminder for me

  9. Lovely reminder of God’s abundant love and blessing!

  10. LInda of No.Cal. says:

    DIanna L. I could not have said it better !! Amen.
    THANK YOU Yvonne for the gentle reminder. I so like StoneGable.?
    Linda of No.Cal.

  11. What a wonderful post, thank you for sharing. I add you as a blessing Yvonne. Love your blog and podcast. Enjoy your day!

    1. Thank you Linda! And I am so blessed by all you who read StoneGable.

  12. Thanks for sharing this, Yvonne. I found it encouraging, and shared it with a friend. Blessings!

  13. Amen! So true…the Lord has blessed me abundantly! I’m truly blessed!

  14. Anne Porter says:

    Poignant and awesomely true! Thanks for boosting our awareness !

  15. Beautiful post today! Among all my blessings are the wonderful bloggers that I follow. I am thankful to you Yvonne and all the others who commit so much of their life to inspire us, teach us and share a sisterhood with many of us for living a beautiful life and loving our homes.

  16. Love this! We have so many blessings in our lives every day that we don’t even realize it.

  17. We are bestowed so many blessings even in our darkest times.
    Take the time to look around and say thank you.Have a blessed
    day Yvonne.

  18. We truly do take so many everyday things for granted. Sometimes when I stand at my sink running as much water as I want to do dishes or cook with, I feel a little guilty that I am so blessed when many women across the world have very little water for their families. I had never thought of being thankful for something as common to us as paper and pencils until I heard a missionary tell how excited children in some countries get when they receive those items. Think of how much paper we use and throw away each day without a second thought. We are so so blessed for sure!
    Linda D.

  19. Louise Harrington says:

    It’s so true. Life changes so quickly. We recently lost our 20 year old grandson. I like to take ‘pictures with my heart’ and try to bring them to memory for the days when life can be a trial. Life’s trials have taught me that I need to appreciate the good days and blessings-that far outweigh the bad days- and that it is possible by taking time each day to count my blessings. I love your Sunday posts.

  20. Also feeling blessed with weekends away with my husband. This weekend I was browsing in a book store and flipping through a magazine and a picture of a throw pillow caught my attention. I thought ” that looks like something Yvonne from Stone Gables would like” and I suddenly realized it was your pillow and it was the magazine feature you had mentioned awhile back! Since you are known for your obsession for throw pillows I wanted you to know the throw pillow displaced on your dining room chair was what lead me to focus in on the magazine article.

  21. Absolutely am blessed by you today and our loving Father! Have a wonderful Sunday of rest.

  22. Beverly Scheidt says:

    From a small town in southwest Texas I send my thanks to you for giving me hours and hours of creative pleasure.

  23. Oh there are so many blessings from our Father to be thankful for and thanks for reminding me about some that I forget! Bless you today and every day!

  24. It truly is one of our Biggest Blessings in life …just to be able to say, ” THANK YOU GOD” each and every day! Hugs from Minnesota…

  25. So thankful for the beauty of His creation

  26. You spoke words from my heart today! Blessings abound if we just stop to consider them. You and I are kindred spirits for sure. I laughingly tell my family that as much as I love period movies and British TV, I probably would have been someone’s maid and not the glamorous lady of the manor! ?

  27. Wonderful Sunday post! I try to thank God for all the “small” blessings we take for granted each day.
    Thanks you for the gentle reminder.

  28. Yes, it is true. It is very hard though when you are in a very difficult situation. Months and months in the hospital with husband with CHF. Now an upcoming LVAD surgery, then transplant of a heart are the options. Very wearing, very painful, very scary. Thoughts of years ago when our daughter went through 17 months of pain and suffering only to die. This month will be 15 years she is gone.
    Pretty much everything gone: health, strength, privacy, work, home, our old life. Sometimes it is more difficult to see than others.

    1. Oh Sue, I am so sorry for your pain and loss. Just know that God is holding you in His hands! Praying for His comfort for you. “The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.” Psalm 34:18

  29. What a beautiful beautiful Sunday Scripture share. It would be a wonderful blessing if all of these were published into a physical book ??✝️ This week I was lingering over “God’s blessings”. People often report that a healthy live baby is their blessing from God. But my childhood neighbor dear friend and I both were going to be Grandmas and it was her first!!! But her little granddaughter suddenly one day–died in the womb and was born without a breath. Such a beautiful baby. Full term. Her parents, my friend’s son and wife, have grieved yet praised God for their little blessing who instead of being held by them? Is being held by JESUS!!!! What an honor they say. And on and on I could write about grief yet joy and blessings they have taught me that even a baby that is not born alive and well is yet a blessing? How many beautiful things has God sent my way that I’ve not searched for His blessing? When I became permanently disabled, I was not able to see any blessings. I saw all the terrible stuff but though that list grows longer with time I see little blessings. Others do not get to have because they are so busy. I grow weary. Part of it all. But thank you for having me turn to blessings at this moment.

  30. Yvonne,you are a true blessing to all of us that follow your blog. Everyday I thank the dear Lord for the many blessings that are bestowed unto me. My three grandchildren are my special blessings. Each one of them are very unique and different in personality and I’m thankful for the joy they bring to our family.
    Yvonne I have a request can your readers please pray for a friend who was badly burned when his house blew up and burned in rural west centeral Illinois three weeks ago. Our friend’s wife said she would appreciate any and all prayers for her husband’s recovery. Thanks

  31. A wonderful post and just what I needed. I am truly blessed in so many ways. Thank you.

  32. Norma Rolader says:

    Wow!!! Thank you I needed this today, so blessed in so many ways. I wish you a blessed and lovely week ahead God bless

  33. Karen VanLoo says:

    Thank you for this post! It is a reminder to always be thankful for our abundance of blessings. Especially because we live in the best country in the world. We have so many things we take for granted. Sometimes when I’m just tired or frustrated with the amount of laundry I have to do all the time, I will take a deep breath and think about this: I am grateful I have clothes to wear and towels and linens to sleep in, I am grateful I have clean water to wash them in (along with a nice washing machine) and an air conditioned home to fold my clothes in. That’s what I try to tell myself. Always take a deep breath and be grateful! Blessings to you! I’m a day late in reading this post, but I am sure glad I did.

  34. Gail Young says:

    Hello Yvonne,
    When we are thankful, we see our world in a different light! God has certainly blessed us, you are so right! I count you as a blessing, also. Reading your blog with a cup of tea is so enjoyable!

  35. I LOVE ALL OF THESE THINGS TOO!!! I REMEMBER COMING BACK FROM A MISSIONS TRIP IN PANAMA AND BEING GRATEFUL FOR A HOT SHOWER. SINCE THEN, EVERY DAY; I HAVE ALWAYS REMEMBERED TO THANK GOD FOR A HOT SHOWER. YVONNE YOU ARE ALSO ONE OF THE BLESSINGS THAT I HAVE BEEN THANKFUL FOR. I KNOW YOU BELIEVE YOU ARE JUST BLOGGING AND SHARING BUT YOU ARE TRULY CHANGING LIVES. YOU HAVE BEEN AN INPIRATION IN MY LIFE FOR THE LAST 5 YEARS – BOTH IN DECORATING AND SPIRITUALLY. THANK YOU!

  36. Yvonne, thanks so much for sharing. I too am so thankful for so many things. At the very top of my list are my Savior and Lord Jesus, family, and friends but I have so many other blessings also. I was able to pay my house off last month and that is such a good feeling.

  37. Your post just touched me deeply. God has opened my eyes tremendously to see the blessings I have been given, and not to focus on what I didn’t get or do not have. I have more than I NEED, and everything else, well that is just a huge blessing from God!!
    Thanks so much for your inspiration, and I love the Sunday postings!

  38. This is spot-on perfect.

    Add to blessings: gals who can tastefully wear her stretch pants. ♥

  39. Another added blessing in my life is reading your posts.Thanks and God bless you over and over.