We are taught many songs as children. Some are used to teach us (the alphabet, hands and feet, etc.), some are for play (the wheels on the bus, Old McDonald) and some are important life lessons hidden behind a melody. I was taught one of these “songs with a purpose” as a child. I don’t remember the entire thing, but the chorus went something like this: “Count your blessings, name them one by one; count your blessings and see what God hath done”. I recently heard it again, and it reminded me to count the many blessings that are bestowed upon us daily. So today I am going to count my many blessings, and see what God has done.
As Christians we often say that we are blessed, but it truly isn’t until we begin to see everything being stripped away that we realize the true meaning of blessing. Aaron and I had one of these moments this summer. When I was 18 weeks pregnant we were told that our baby’s kidneys were not developing “normally” and that there could be a slew of different outcomes- but that we couldn’t do anything but standby and monitor the baby until she was born. Well at that point we did two things. The first was to cultivate a general dislike for all things medical, including the doctors who would see me every 2 weeks to tell me that they still don’t know anything. The second was to acknowledge that there was something we could do- we could pray. And so we did- and we recruited everyone we knew to pray alongside of us. For the remaining 20 weeks of my pregnancy (we had Britanny at 38.5 weeks) Britanny was being covered in prayer.
We did not have to wait for Britanny to be born to see that our prayers were being answered. Although the first ultrasound had shown that both Britanny’s kidneys were “malfunctioning”, by the time the next ultrasound rolled around her right kidney appeared to be developing at a normal rate. Our baby’s chances had suddenly increased exponentially- people can live with just one kidney. By the time Britanny was born we had been seeing the high risk pregnancy clinic at the Ottawa General Hospital every two weeks for the past 4 months- needless to say, I don’t ever want to see another nurse in my life. We knew that there were still a few ways that Britanny’s health could turn out, and that we could be in for a rough journey after her birth.
Well Britanny was born, and we were only detained in the hospital a few hours longer than normal (although it felt like forever) and she has had a few tests done since birth. Although she is on preventative medication should her left kidney cause problems, she is a perfectly happy, healthy baby. This is the biggest blessing we could have ever received. There is no doubt in my mind: Britanny is a healthy child because she was (and is) constantly surrounded by prayer.
In the wake of the turmoil occurring around the world it is very easy to doubt the Lord. But at the same time, it opens our eyes to be able to thank him for all the small things we have in our lives. It is easy to say that we are blessed when we have already weathered the storm, and it is another to remind ourselves of God’s love and mercy while we are suffering. I can only hope that Britanny’s story will serve as an encouragement- and as a reminder that we all have blessings to count.
From his abundance we have all received one gracious blessing after another- John 1:16
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