Counting Blessings and Praising God

January 18, 2026

For many, if not most of us, our main goal is to get through the day without losing what’s left of our sanity or needing bail money because we’ve squeezed the throat of that one irritating, annoying boss or coworker until their eyeballs popped out. Okay, okay, maybe I exaggerated a bit there, but you know what I mean. Every day, our prayer is, Lord, just help me make it through the day. While that’s not necessarily a bad prayer, I read a bible verse this morning that might help us in this area. “Let all that I am praise the LORD; may I never forget the good things he does for me” Psalms 103:2.  What if we started our day praising instead of pouting? After all, the LORD woke us up this morning with a beating heart and fresh breath. We have another opportunity to get it right and have a productive day living for Jesus. I know we face challenges in our day, but instead of being overwhelmed by them, what if we faced them head-on with praise and a prayer for God’s guidance? The Psalmist isn’t talking about a little praise either. He says, “Let all that I am praise the LORD.” That word “all” means with every fiber of our being. Praise God from the top of our heads to the bottom of our feet. Then, according to this verse, there is a second thing we can do to help us move smoothly and positively through our day. Not only should we praise God, but we should also remember the good things God does for us. It is so easy to get caught up in the day-to-day stresses of our lives that we often forget how good God has been to us. There was an elderly friend of mine who was going through a bunch of serious health problems, but always seemed to be happy and upbeat. I asked him what his secret was, and he replied, “I just thank the Lord for all the things I don’t have. I don’t have dementia, pneumonia, COPD, or cancer. I don’t have to use a wheelchair. I don’t have to depend on others to handle my day-to-day activities. By the time I think of all the things I don’t have, I have taken my mind off of the unpleasantness of what I do have.” God has been so good to me. In fact, He has been much better to me than I have been to Him, and the crazy thing is, He keeps on being good to me! I’ll bet He is good to you, too. Why don’t we get in the habit of starting our day by praising God? Why don’t we spend our day remembering how good God has been to us instead of dwelling on our challenges? If we do this regularly, people will start to wonder what we are up to, and when they ask, we just might get an opportunity to tell them about Jesus. When we get to do that, it’s been a great day!

Be blessed and then go be a blessing . . . Bro. Andy