Status Change (or Nah)

I have a…sign thing (clearly today has taken away my abilities to describe things lol) above my door in my room. It simply says ‘blessed’. A while back, I realized something that is going to sound incredibly stupid: it….never….changes. On my greatest days, guess what it said: blessed. On the days I really wished I could skip, it still said blessed. Graduation day? The sign said 'blessed'. How about the day I spilt water on my laptop & totaled my car all in one day? Still read ‘blessed’. The nights I slept for at least 8 hours & rested because everything was going well? It said 'blessed’. The nights I had to pull all nighters in undergrad & even in law school? Looked up..still said ‘blessed. Living at my Mama’s house? …yep…still said ‘blessed’. Moved into my own apartment?….would you believe that it still said ‘blessed’?! Nothing about that declaration has ever changed. The font didn’t get bigger on my good days, & it didn’t magically put a disclaimer at the bottom on my bad ones. It’s amazing how something so small has taught me such a major life lesson: regardless of what’s happening around me, my status hasn’t changed.

To me, to be blessed is to have something that God gave you (which is like..everything). God is not required to give us anything. Everything that He gives us, He gives because He wants to. It’s not because you earned it, or because you worked so hard. There are people everywhere who have worked twice as you have and have had to overcome more than you have had to….that still don’t have half of what you’ve been given. It hasn’t been because you smooth talked Jesus & tricked Him into giving you what you wanted. He saw your heart & gave it to you anyway. If you look at the grand scheme and the differences between us & God, He shouldn’t even be looking at us because of the mistakes we have made, and continue to make (ohhh but we thank God for Jesus *30 sec praise break* lol).​

Therefore, all of us are blessed. To be able to breathe is a blessing. To be able to pay a bill is a blessing. To not be a victim of all the madness happening around us is a blessing. To be able to go to class, or to work, or to be retired is a blessing. To make it back home & get in your bed at night is a blessing, suga. Many times, we only see the big things (the random checks in the mail, acceptance letters and graduations, the major miracles, etc.) as blessings. We see the destinations as blessings, and rarely include the small pieces of the journey. That’s part of the problem of my view of my ‘blessed’ status: the sign said I was blessed more than I did…because I took the small stuff as “normal”. The fact that everybody around you can breathe does not mean that life (or the desire to live) is not something that you have been blessed with. So if we’re all so blessed, why aren’t we always able to see the blessings we have around us? What blocks us from the (recognition of the) blessing? 

On Sunday, I got the answer to that question. The enemy can’t stop you from being blessed, but he can surely stop you from feeling blessed. How? He can cause you to look at what’s wrong so much that you don’t even think to look at what’s right. Some of us get so caught up in what didn’t work that we seemingly forget about the plethora of things that have worked. We get so mad about the fact that we didn’t get what we wanted that we forget that all things work together for our good. We are so busy looking around at the madness that we don’t look up for our miracle. The enemy can’t stop you from being blessed, he can’t change your status, but he can affect the way that you perceive your status. 

Sooooo…quick story time. I was behind my first few weeks of law school, so I didn’t make many friends. I went to class, went home, read until 3 or 4 in the morning, and did it all over again. My lack of socialization (and the fact that I naturally isolate myself) put me in a rather lonely & vulnerable place, because I would look at others and think that they had it better than I had. Every week, I would come back and listen to a group that sits around me talk about how much they had fun, where they went, etc. Meanwhile, Valencia spent her weekend reading or stressed out trying to balance actual life with her new upgraded student status. I would look at them and feel bad because I thought they had something I didn’t. Last week, I spoke to somebody in the circle I thought I wanted to be apart of, and realized that what they were doing every weekend didn’t even match my personality type. I don’t even like doing that! So, if I had been included with them, I wouldn’t have enjoyed myself. The entire time I thought God was keeping from a blessing, He was protecting me, and really providing me with a blessing.

Always remember that through it all, you’re blessed. You may not have everything that you want, but you have something that others don’t. 2 Corinthians 4: 8-9 says, "We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed.” So, there will be times when life won’t be perfect, but we’ll have to choose to say “it’s not going the way I want it to go, but I’m blessed.” It may not be happening when you want it to, but you’re blessed. You may not be able to give a magical testimony right now, but you’re blessed. You may not be able to see what the next step is, but you’re blessed. You may not know what is going on or what God is doing, but you’re blessed. You may be in pain, but you’re blessed. How is that possible? Because it hurts….but it hasn’t taken you out. You may be confused, but you’re not insane. You’ve been attacked, but God has been there through it all. Life may have thrown you around quite a bit, but I don’t think you’d be here if God didn’t set a limit and expiration date on your struggle.

​Regardless of what’s happening around you, your circumstances can never change your status. God has called you blessed. Therefore you were, you are, and will forever be blessed. I don’t care who walks in and out of your life. I don’t need to know what you’ve done that you think would disqualify you, because I already know that God has seen all of it, and has chosen to call you blessed anyway. Nothing that surrounds you, has preceded this moment, or will come after this moment can change the fact that you are chosen & that you are blessed. So the next time somebody tells you to be blessed, I want you to giggle a bit & think “I already am.” Hold your head up! You’ve got the creator of the universe on your side, and He said….you’re blessed. 

Background Music: Christmas Praise (because a lil chu'ch never hurt nobody) - Tasha Cobbs; Blessed (good ol faithful - my absolute favorite part runs from about 5:30 - 6:45) - Fred Hammond

Next post

Previous post