Something I've noticed among Christians, and it's accentuated on social media, is that they "Feel so incredibly blessed! Praise God!" when things are going their way. However, when things aren't going their way, life sucks and suddenly they don't feel so blessed and stop praising God. What sparked my thought was the fact that two friends of mine recently started dating, they made it "Facebook official" yesterday, and her status was, "I'm feeling so incredibly blessed! 
" and I thought, "Well that's gonna be awkward if you ever break up. Will you feel blessed then?" I wasn't trying to be cynical, I just thought "What do they feel being blessed means, and what happens when that changes?"
Now, I'm not saying that bad things aren't bad and good things aren't good. I'm not saying we should jump up and shout with happyness, "Yay, my dad has cancer!" or "Woohoo, I lost my job!" or "YES, I am PSYCHED that I broke my arm!" What I'm saying is that I feel that we (myself included, most definitely) tend to base our feelings of being blessed based on what we have and our circumstances at that moment.
The Bible verses I have read that talk about blessings tend to be more about being a blessing ourselves to others, or being blessed as a person. The definition of "blessing" is "God's favor and protection" (well, according to Google ). That, to me, sounds like feeling blessed because we are known by God. We are His children. That is something that does not change, that is not taken away, and that is not circumstantial.
When I first started my missionary job in May 2012, I praised God and felt blessed because I had family and friends supporting me back home, the scenery was beautiful, I liked the people I worked with, the children I worked with were precious, etc. But when it all crashed and burned 4 months later, painfully, I shook my fist at God. In my eyes, He had gone from loving, provider, and wonderful to mean, confusing, untrustworthy, and hurtful. But, is that really true? Of course not. God did not change in those 4 months. In fact, a year later, here I stand, having learned some incredibly valuable lessons about myself and God in the process.
God can (and does) bless us in the typical way that we think of it. But I think more so, being blessed is knowing that we are His. Being secure in Him. Matthew 5:8, for example, reads, "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God." It's not "Blessed are the pure in heart, for then God will bring to them a husband, job, car, and children. God will make you happy if you are pure in heart." It's more about who we are and who God is than the things we have been given.
TL;DR: Feeling blessed has become too circumstantial and materialistic based than I believe it was intended to be.
" and I thought, "Well that's gonna be awkward if you ever break up. Will you feel blessed then?" I wasn't trying to be cynical, I just thought "What do they feel being blessed means, and what happens when that changes?"Now, I'm not saying that bad things aren't bad and good things aren't good. I'm not saying we should jump up and shout with happyness, "Yay, my dad has cancer!" or "Woohoo, I lost my job!" or "YES, I am PSYCHED that I broke my arm!" What I'm saying is that I feel that we (myself included, most definitely) tend to base our feelings of being blessed based on what we have and our circumstances at that moment.
The Bible verses I have read that talk about blessings tend to be more about being a blessing ourselves to others, or being blessed as a person. The definition of "blessing" is "God's favor and protection" (well, according to Google
). That, to me, sounds like feeling blessed because we are known by God. We are His children. That is something that does not change, that is not taken away, and that is not circumstantial. When I first started my missionary job in May 2012, I praised God and felt blessed because I had family and friends supporting me back home, the scenery was beautiful, I liked the people I worked with, the children I worked with were precious, etc. But when it all crashed and burned 4 months later, painfully, I shook my fist at God. In my eyes, He had gone from loving, provider, and wonderful to mean, confusing, untrustworthy, and hurtful. But, is that really true? Of course not. God did not change in those 4 months. In fact, a year later, here I stand, having learned some incredibly valuable lessons about myself and God in the process.
God can (and does) bless us in the typical way that we think of it. But I think more so, being blessed is knowing that we are His. Being secure in Him. Matthew 5:8, for example, reads, "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God." It's not "Blessed are the pure in heart, for then God will bring to them a husband, job, car, and children. God will make you happy if you are pure in heart." It's more about who we are and who God is than the things we have been given.
TL;DR: Feeling blessed has become too circumstantial and materialistic based than I believe it was intended to be.
