I want to share with you a Face Book praise report from my friend Rick. “Today (7-12-19) was my last cardio rehab (36x) at Evanston Hosp. Thank you to the Exercise physiologists, Cisco, Mitch & Charlie, Nurse, Denise & Respiratory Specialist, Kim. They all took good care of me. Next week I will join a health club & continue my exercise plan. I’ve come back from strep bacterial pneumonia in my brain (meningitis), blood (sepsis), & in my lungs (pneumonia). I had less than 20% chance of surviving that, but I did! Then I survived open heart surgery in February, where the surgeon went in to replace a leaky heart valve & ended up repairing it (2% odds). Some people say I’m lucky, but I say I’m blessed. The biggest blessing I have is my beautiful wife of almost 40 years, Marsha, who has stood with me, helped me for over a year & a half. I’ve got a lot of living to do!” As I have mentioned before, Rick and Marsha are Messianic Jews whose faith in Jesus Christ is unshakable.
Rick’s testimony reminds me of all of the times God has blessed me. I too was blessed with a beautiful wife who stood by me for 50 years. I too found myself by death’s door when I was only 12 and misdiagnosed by our family doctor. God blessed me with just the right doctor in the nick of time to treat my histoplasmosis. I have walked away from three serious auto accidents without even one broken bone. I could never begin to count all of the daily blessing I have received from God since I became a Christian. I believe God blesses us in ways we are not aware of; keeping us from dangers only He can see.
Rick and I are not unique. The Bible is filled with people who have been blessed and every Christian has his or her own stories of blessings in addition to the ultimate blessing of eternal life. I’m sure you have your own long list of blessings too. God blesses His children even though we don’t always deserve it. Jesus listed why people are blessed in the Beatitudes and other places in the Gospels. But Mary’s cousin, Elizabeth, put it simply when she told Mary, “You are blessed because you believed the Lord would do what he said.” (Luke 1:45)
Do you know the best part about being blessed instead of being lucky? You know who to thank!