Counting My Blessings

I was responding to something on the Sonlight forums tonight, and I think I would put a little bit of it here.

What do you do when you are stressed out and worried, and don't have any idea where to turn? Me, I count my blessings, or at least I try my best.

That's hard sometimes. Sometimes, the whole world looks dark and black. But, even in the midst of horrible things, we can still count our blessings.

Say your close aunt just fell down the steps and broke her neck, and is dead.

Or you have a miscarriage late enough for the baby to be formed and hold it, then get pregnant again, and have a stillborn child, and then get pregnant again, all within 15 months.

Or, you are in labor and are at 9 centimeters, and the doctor says "Oh, #@$*" and tells you to push, and then yells "stop pushing," we need to get you into emergency C-section right now, call all the available doctors in, we're going to need at least 2 pediatricians, a couple extra nurses, and another surgeon, and the anesthesiologist here in the next 5 minutes and keeps telling the anesthesiologist over and over again, "OK, don't put her under until I tell you to, and when you do, I'm going to start cutting right away."

Or, you other aunt needs a kidney transplant, and the doctor's can't find a close enough match in your family.

Or, your child gets a cold that turns into a deadly pneumonia, and they have to operate, even though it's so dangerous a team of specialists can't agree on whether or not it is riskier to operate or let the antibiotics keep trying to work, when your child consistently runs a fever of 106.8, and Tylenol and Motrin are already on overload for his weight.

Or, you are in a third world country with no resources when an disaster hits.

I've been there. All of them.

And I've been able to count my blessings all the way through.

Sometimes the blessings don't come easily to mind, and you really have to search for them. But they are there.

Some examples of starter blessings for some of you might be (these are ones I've used at various times, when different things are happening.

Thank you for not sending an earthquake this time.
Thank you for providing enough food for today. I will worry about tomorrow when tomorrow comes.
Thank you for the sunshine.
Thank you for the rain.
Thank you for the air.
Thank you for not letting her suffer.
Thank you for giving us another chance.
Thank you for someone to hold my hand.
Thank you for letting his temperature stay down for a few hours.
Thank you for my three beautiful years with my little angel, who was a miracle before birth, during birth, and still is my little miracle.
Thank you for four beautiful angels.
Thank you for giving me two precious little reasons to go to heaven.

There is always a blessing to be thankful for.