punch card living

Do you ever feel like blessings from God are like this punch card? Like you only get so many, you'll fill that thing up, and then God is done?

I just had this fleeting thought in my mind, and I think I actually believed it for a second. I'm making some decisions about the future (you know, like we all do EVERY day) and I'm lamenting a little bit. I kind of like the way things are right now. If I change something about my life, the flow of blessing may just cease, right?

I'm silly like that. I like to think I can control everything. I like to think that I can keep everything lined up in straight lines, or keep things stuffed in cute little boxes and avoid strife. I feel like my punch card looks like this. One last punch left and then it's my turn for bad stuff to happen again.

It's not without cause that we get this way in life. Maybe life has included a lot of pain. Maybe you've lost something or someone so dear to you it makes you want to scream at the recollection of it. Maybe you're enduring a sickness that's all but sucked life's breath out of you. Maybe you're in a job situation that is just plain disgusting to you. These kinds of things make us cynical if we let them. These things chip away at our belief in a generous God.

As I pushed this fleeting thought from my mind (the Holy Spirit on cue) it was replaced with truth. I was reminded that God does more than we can ask or imagine. Do we even have a clue what that really means? He can give more than I can even ask for my life because He is the author of my life. He knows exactly what I need at all times. All the things that come to me are sifted through His loving hands. That means nothing is on accident. Nothing. Please God, help us, help me remember this. The good stuff and the hard stuff is on purpose. It's all part of the story You are writing. Help us rest in the fact that with YOU the ending is going to be perfect.

So as your "blessing" card gets full -  remember there are an infinite number of them waiting to be hole-punched. Live life that way. Instead of waiting for the other shoe to drop, live life expecting miracle after miracle. Not because we deserve them, but because we can live in the full knowledge that He is capable of providing them.

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine,

according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church

and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever. 

Ephesians 3:20-21