“Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits.” Psalm 103:2

All His Benefits

Floyd enjoyed relaxing by watching a movie. He tended to like action flicks, but sometimes he’d watch a chick flick with me. I picked up his habit, so when my mind is overloaded and I need a break, I often watch a movie. I was recently watching what was supposed to be a comedy, but near the end of the movie the main character died of ovarian cancer. That hit pretty close to home for me. Then I tried a romance, but the main character had just lost her husband and was grieving. I only lasted about ten minutes into that one.

Hallmark movies are my favorites because they are usually “feel good” type of movies. In spite of whatever drama comes up, they usually have a happy ending. And, interestingly enough, they often “speak” to me about something. I was watching one a few days ago. The woman in the movie was going through some problems. She said she’d learned not to concentrate on the “what if” but rather on the “what I have.” I love that. I’ve been choosing afresh to follow her example.

When you have cancer (or any other major illness), it’s easy for that illness to hang like a cloud over your head all the time. Whenever there’s a “twinge” or some other little symptom, you immediately wonder if the cancer is back…what does this mean? I continually choose to not be anxious, to not worry—but that cloud is persistently there. I do everything I can to be proactive and dispel it I’m focusing on “what I have.”

If we focus on the what ifs, we’ll always come up short. We’ll be discouraged, and probably overwhelmed. But if we focus on what we have, we soon find that we have so, so much—things we take for granted that are actually huge blessings!

Today I’m focusing on the fact that I have so many wonderful friends all over the world! I am so blessed. I’ve received wonderful messages from literally the world over after Floyd’s passing and for my birthday—such sweet messages of love. Floyd and I always said that one of our greatest treasures in life is people. We were so grateful for all the wonderful people that God brought into our lives. The “gift of people” is a treasure! Thank you to each one of you for being in my life. You are a precious gift to me.

No matter what the circumstance is in my day, in my life, I have so many wonderful blessings. God is good!

Lord, help us to remember all the benefits You have brought to us, instead of being overwhelmed by circumstances. Amen.