When I say, "I am blessed...."

I've been working through something over the last several months. Every time I say, "I am blessed" it seems to be in reference to some "thing" I received or some wonderful event in life. Is this scriptural? Is this what it really means to be blessed by God? And when something difficult comes along, I seem to say, "blah, blah, blah happened, BUT I am so blessed" referring to other aspects of my life; because there surely could be no blessing in the bad stuff. I am not in any way suggesting that we don't have times of sadness or grieving. I am not making light of the hard times every one of us experiences. But God can bless us by the hard times. He can bless us by sickness, misery, financial woes, loss of a loved one. He can bless us any way He wants. When I'm open to the Holy Spirit's voice, I often hear, "This may seem disappointing right now, but I am protecting you from things you know nothing about."

Not too long ago, a friend said to me, "You have a good life," and before I could tame my tongue I said, "I am blessed." My initial thought was that I wanted to give credit where credit was due...to God. But in a way, I said to her, "I am blessed and you are not."

I also realize that sometimes the things we experience are a result of evil....deliberate evil, by evil people. Yet God is still in control. He will forbid and allow as He sees fit.

Genesis 50:20
"As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive."

^{I Peter 3:14}
But even if you should suffer for the sake of righteousness, you are blessed and do not fear their intimidation, and do not be troubled...

I hope that some day I can get to the point where I refer to everything God allows to touch my life as a blessing.

James 1:2-3
Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.