Seeing Our Blessings During Difficult Times

Sometimes it can be difficult to see the blessings in our lives. Maybe you have experienced a great deal of losses (whether due to the death of loved ones, illnesses, disappointments, etc). In fact, your losses may outnumber your reasons to rejoice. 
      Of course we can always give a list of reasons we should rejoice. God has given us salvation, we have air to breath, we have a place to sleep, and so many other things to be grateful for, but let's be honest, we often take these things for granted in the midst of hard times. When we are struggling, these blessings don't necessarily make us rejoice the way they should.
      The Bible is filled with people who suffered and felt hopeless. One person that experienced this was a woman named Naomi. At the time she was alive, there was a famine in Bethlehem and so she and her family moved to Moab. Naomi lived in Moab for about 10 years. In that time she experienced the death of her husband and later her two sons. 
      When she heard that Bethlehem was no longer suffering from famine, she made her way back home. The people were surprised to see her again and the women in the town exclaimed, "Can this be Naomi?" (Ruth 1:19 NIV). Naomi's response can resonate with anyone who is experiencing a difficult time in their lives. 
She replied, “‘Don’t call me Naomi,’ she told them. ‘Call me Mara, because the Almighty has made my life very bitter. I went away full, but the Lord has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi? The Lord has afflicted me; the Almighty has brought misfortune upon me’” (v.20-21).

     Naomi told the people to call her Mara, meaning bitter and says that she was coming back home empty. It’s no doubt that Naomi experienced a great deal of loss while away. However, Naomi did not come back empty (with nothing left). Ruth (one of her daughters-in-law) had returned with her. In fact, she had refused to leave Naomi's side. There was a great love there.

      Sometimes we can get so consumed with our losses that we lose sight of the things God has blessed us with. God did not leave Naomi alone, yet she described her situation in that way. Ruth did not go along with Naomi out of a sense of obligation, it was out of a sense of love and loyalty. As time went on, the women in Bethlehem could see the blessing that Ruth was to Naomi. The very blessing that Naomi discounted was the one God used to fill her life again with friendship and family. 
      Ruth remarried and gave birth to a son. The women in Bethlehem said, "For your daughter-in-law, who loves you and who is better to you than seven sons, has given him birth" (Ruth 4:15). Verses 16 and 17 say, "Then Naomi took the child in her arms and cared for him. The women living there said, 'Naomi has a son!' And they named him Obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David."
      Our blessings often don't initially look like much to us when we are going through hard times. Compared to the loss of her husband and two sons, Ruth's companionship, while not taken for granted, didn't seem like much of a consolation. God brought fullness back into Naomi's life through her, though. In fact, He blessed her even more because that grandchild was a descendant of the Messiah. 
     We can be so stubbornly focused on our losses that we neglect to see what God has brought to us. That doesn't mean we shouldn't mourn or feel pain, but it does mean that we should be intentional about seeing what God has blessed us with. Rather than looking for a replacement, let us honor these blessings as a source of some comfort. We are not forgotten or over-looked by God. He sees us and He provides for us. This doesn't mean that we will all have what was lost replaced (health, relationships, etc). I would be lying if I said this was the case. But we have a promise to cling to. Our Lord will fill whatever emptiness there is on earth once we are with Him in Heaven.