Counting Your Blessings (One of the Best Habits to Have)

If you are struggling to find joy in your motherhood journey, I want to encourage you to start counting your blessings, and then to spread blessings on to others.

Sometimes loneliness and self-pity want to get at me. Bit by bit I am learning to rise above those feelings, and the biggest thing that has helped me is counting my blessings.

Notice Your Blessings

As I count my blessings and the times God has blessed me, I see I have so many good things to be thankful for. 

Sometimes in the overwhelm of all we have to do, we lose sight of all that we do have. We tend to see what we are missing out on in life. As I mentioned, this has been a struggle of mine.

We all go through hard times and face negative emotions.

I am not saying we should just gloss over hard things and downplay them. It’s okay to feel the hard and the hurt too. But then we can choose to turn back to positive emotions and cheer up. We can count our blessings again.

I was blessed to notice that my girls seem to be learning this lesson. Maybe, just maybe, they are learning from my efforts at this good habit, because I am not always the best example. Recently they had a little kitten that we all loved. But one day when we came home, we found it had died. We aren’t sure from what. They cried the loss, but after a while my daughter (the one who most struggles to let go) said something along the lines of being thankful that at least we still have the rabbit and the dogs. It’s true, we still do have many blessings. 

Having a positive mindset changes so much. None of us enjoy being around someone who is grumpy and unthankful. 

When we look at things through the lens of what we do have instead of what we don’t, we see that we have so much. It doesn’t just have to be material possessions. Blessings from God come in all sorts of ways. This reminds me of the song by Laura Story called Blessings. Sometimes even the hard things in life are blessings in disguise. She wrote the song when going through difficulties with her husband’s health and as she says:

Cause what if your blessings come through raindrops?
What if your healing comes through tears?
And what if the thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You’re near?
And what if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise? 

I encourage you to go back and listen to all the words yourself. I have cried through them several times on darker days. And yes, even there God has blessings for us.

Somethings don’t seem like blessings, but looking back we can see how God uses them to bless us.

Write Them Down.

Ann Voskamp, in her book One Thousand Gifts, taught me the wonderful tip of writing down all of the little things and ways in which God gifts us. I don’t do this all the time. Sometimes I just keep a mental note of things. But the times I have written down all the blessings and gifts from God, I am soon overwhelmed with His goodness.

You can do it yourself (read the book too, if you haven’t yet.) You can find the link on my shop page.

Simply get out a notebook or a piece of paper. (You can even use a wall of your house like my mom did! They were planning to soon renovate and take down some walls, so she started writing all over her walls. One in particular was her thankfulness wall where every day she wrote down a few things she was thankful for. Since renovations took longer than expected, her “writing on the wall” stayed up for way longer than expected!)

Look around you, and listen. A cheerful bird song. The sound of ice cracking underwater. Flowers from your children. A smile from your husband. A plant growing up. A small gift from friends or family members who care. The taste of chocolate. The smell of soup. The softness of a blanket. Clean laundry flapping in the breeze. A beautiful sunset or sunrise. Seasons of good health.

You get the point. Write each of them down and you will see your daily life is full of the many blessings God is sending your way. It’s amazing the perk this simple habit can have on your mental health!

(If you would like a journal especially for your list of blessings, check out the one I have listed on my shop page.)

Spread the Blessings.

One of the best ways we can enjoy our blessings is by spreading them on. How can you cheer others with all that God has given you? Maybe others need a touch from God, and He could use you to give them some cheer. We don’t need to do much. But sometimes we can spread blessings in simple ways with just a bit of sacrifice.

Make simple cards and crafts with your children. Wrap up a plate of cookies. Teach them the blessing of giving.

Sometimes my own life as a mom is so full that it is hard to take the time to bless others. But when I do I come away blest too. 

Now Tell Me.

Do you have any more ideas on how to spread cheer?

In what ways have you seen God’s goodness in your life?

In Conclusion.

Remember to check out my shop page for the book and gratitude journal!