Devotionals

Forgotten Blessings

by Antje Hill
05/21/17
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Forgotten Blessings

I turned out the light and slipped into bed beside my husband.  As we lay in the quiet, I could see the leaves on the water oak outside the window moving in the night breeze.  Behind the oak, the moon peeped through, high in the sky.  What a difference from the night before as warnings came from our local weather station, “Go to your safe place, an interior room or hallway, away from windows and exterior walls.  A tornado is on the ground in your area. Take precautions now!”

Once again God lifted the turbulent weather and we were safe. Not so for others south of us who lost their lives by the extensive damage. Crews spent hours restoring power, cutting away fallen trees and checking on elderly citizens of the community.

This night my thoughts were on the beauty of the night around us. I thought about all the nights I had gone to bed and failed to thank God for stillness and gentle breezes that barely move the branches of the tree just outside our window. As the quietness surrounded me, I asked God to make me more sensitive to the good He sends to me, things like sunshine, the ability to walk and talk, friends and luxuries of everyday living like electricity, water, automobiles, cell phones that are such a part of us that we don’t consider them blessings and yes, those gentle breezes.  James 1:17 reminds us, “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.” (NIV) What a mighty God we serve!

Antje is a columnist for Parents & Kids Magazine.  She and her husband, Richard, spend time between Mississippi and Michigan.