It’s a message God has been speaking into my heart for weeks now, most recently through a dream.
“Focus on what you have, not on what you’ve lost.”
It’s easy to lock in on collapsed dreams, financial attrition, health crises, or the never met expectation. It takes so little effort to tally all the difficult experiences and forget what God is continuing to do that blesses.
I suppose that’s why Ann Voskamp’s message to count our blessings resonates with me in such a big way. Purposing to count our blessings forces us to focus on God's beauty. How he is still present, no matter our losses.
His presence is our biggest blessing.
Evangelist and founder of the Methodist Church, John Wesley lived this truth even to the end. Here a few words describing his last moments on earth:
He begged the friends who had gathered round him to "pray and praise," responding with a fervent "Amen" to their petitions. He grasped their hands and said, "Farewell, farewell." As others entered the room he tried to speak, but finding they could not understand him, he summoned all his remaining strength and cried out, "The best of all is, God is with us." Then lifting up his dying arms in token of victory, and raising his feeble voice with a holy triumph not to be expressed, he again repeated the heart-reviving words, "The best of all is, God is with us."
He died a short time later.
Yes, the powerful truth is, no matter what our losses now or in the future, God is present. Jesus said, “And surely I am with you always, to very end of the age” (Matthew 28:20).
“The best of all is, God is with us."
Enduring words for any season of loss.