Blessed Is She...Who Walks With God

"Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine.
Oh what a foretaste of glory divine.
Heir of salvation. Purchased by God.
Born of His Spirit.  Washed in His blood.
This is my story.  This is my song. 
Praising my Savior all the day long.
This is my story.  This is my song.
Praising my Savior, all the day long."

The words of this song by Fannie Jane Crosby voice the sentiments of this article,  "Blessed is She...who walks with God: Insights for an abundant life of faith."

The life lessons God has instilled in me over the past 56 years has afforded me the privilege of the being in God's gracious school of blessedness.  The ideas in this article are organized around a life-cycle pattern from the beginning of our life to the ultimate culmination of eternal union with God.

The word BLESSED is in the King James Version of the Bible 287 times beginning with Genesis 1:22 which reads, "And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply."  In Genesis 1:28 God blessed them with the same blessing and told them to replenish the earth, and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moves upon the earth. 

In Genesis 2:3 God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it; because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.  In Genesis 5:2 God blessed  the male and female He made and gave them names.  In Genesis 14:19 God blessed Abram and called him the possessor of heaven and earth.  All through the Scriptures we find God in the blessing business.

The word BLESSED means to kneel; to bless God as an act of adoration, and vice versa man as a benefit; to abundantly, altogether, congratulate, greatly, indeed, kneel down, praise, salute, thank someone for something great.  This definition is used a lot in the Old Testament.   As powerful as that definition is, the New Testament meaning of BLESSED is the one that moves my heart to gratitude with humility and reference.  It's the simple word, "HAPPY!"

How many times in my life has God made me happy despite the heartaches, trouble, tribulation, questions, perplexities, frustration, hardships, hurts, disappointments, etc. in my life?  I can't count the times!  But I
have now and have had for almost all my life that God will work things out for our good.  Perhaps that's why I haven't been overly worrisome about every problem I've had in life.  Perhaps that's why I can testify to the
fact that I'm blessed, better than blessed,  thank you Lord!

The word BLESSING is in the King James Version of the Bible 64 times beginning at Genesis 12:2 when God is talking to Abram explaining to Abram that he would be a great blessing to the nations to Revelation 5:12.  This word BLESSING means by implication prosperity.

He has, however, given some specific criteria for receiving bountiful blessings.  Those that He explicated sited in Deuteronomy 28 when God tells the children of Israel their responsibility in receiving the blessings that God had in store for them.  He charged them to keep His commandments.  It they did He promised that they would be blessed in the city, and blessed in the field.  Their children and corps, cattle and flocks and all their harvest could be blessed.   They would be blessed in their coming and going.

The Lord shall cause their enemies that rise against them to be defeated.  They shall  come out against them one way and flee before them seven ways. The Lord shall bless their resources and warehouses, businesses, and all their enterprises and real estate...everything they determine to do.  The Lord shall establish thee an holy people unto himself, ad he hat sworn unto thee, if they keep his commandments and walk in his ways.  All people on the earth shall see that they are called by the name of the Lord; and they shall fear them. The Lord will make them plenteous in goods, in the fruit of their body, and in the fruit of their cattle, and in the fruit of their ground, in the land which the Lord swear unto their fathers to give the.  He will open unto them his good treasure, the heaven to give the rain on their land in his season, and to bless all the work of their hand; and they shall lend unto many nations, and they shall not borrow.  They will be made the head and not the trail; and they shall be above only and not beneath.

These blessings are theirs and ours (as the seed of Abraham) if we have no other gods before God Almighty and if we are steadfast in the truth of God.  If we don't keep His commandments, we will be cursed by many curses.  {For the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it!}

God has caused blessedness in my life.  Blessings that only God can give.  Defined: Blessedness:  (Hebrew) eulogew...Blessed of God; to cause to prosper; to make happy; favored by God.

My life chronicles the richness of living an abundant life through faith for an ordinary woman in some of the ordinary circumstances of life.  This is the classroom of life that we live every day.  New opportunities for learning arise at every juncture of life. The lessons of the past 56 years qualify me to become wiser as I learn new and different lessons for the next decades of my life.  They are not just lessons for me to learn and keep to myself.  No!  They are lessons that can be imparted to you, and you can impart them to others, and others can impart them to others.

College was not that great for me.  I was in one of the first groups of black students to attend North Texas State University in Denton, Texas.  While there, I changed my major from secretarial science, to business administration, to secondary education because I was frightened of taking advanced mathematics.  I realized that to graduate in any of the business majors, advanced math was a requirements.  In August, 1993 I graduated with a bachelor of science degree in secondary education.

My Aunt Doretha (Doretha Cashaw) used to tease me a lot.  She said I was destined to be school teacher because my legs were as small as pencils.  "Anybody with pencil legs had to become a teacher."  Her prediction came true.  However, when I became a permanent substitute teacher in the Richardson Independent School District, I suddenly discovered that school teaching was not my life's calling.  Or at least, I thought it wasn't.

Years past and I had other jobs from l964 through 1976 that has little to do with education.  But something happened in l976.  As a banker with North Park National Bank in Dallas, Texas, I had started teaching banking courses through the American Institute of Banking.  Courses like Principles of Bank Operations, Customer Service, Bank Teller School, and those courses within the financial services industry.  But that still did not satisfy me until I started giving a mini-speech at the last night of class using my bumblebee analogy.  People started asking me to come to their company, civic group, and other places to deliver my "motivational" speech on being you best in everything you do.  The rewards I received from the phone calls,
letter, cards, notes, applause, etc. was the rejuvenation of a teaching/speaking career of great joy.  That old school teacher in me finally had an avenue to express itself.  The classroom of those days in the l970's was much more rewarding than the classroom of the 1960's.  The 1970's classroom forum was one of excitement and expectation for success for everyone involved.  It's a real pleasure to be an instructor in the classroom of life.  I'm not unique, however.  You also have learned lessons and I hope are teaching the valuable lessons learn to those whom you care about.

The quest for teaching and speaking spread to my church where I became the Sunday School teacher of a terrific group of women ages 35 and up.  The quest to understand the word of God better led me to start a Bible study group at my office and then my home.  Still using the skills of teaching and speaking.  Even in one of my books, Capture Your Audience Through Storytelling, I used the format of questions and answers as a teaching method to impart the message of storytelling.

In one of the series in our Bible study group, we studied about The Abundant Life.   We discovered the true meaning of the abundant life.  I believe it is truly necessary to understand what is meant by The Abundant
Life.

I sitting here listening to a song that says "All I want to do is to be true to You," the song reminds me of my childhood and the grace God granted me because of my ancestors.  Sound crazy?  Well it does to me a little bit, but the fact is, I have always enjoyed The Abundant Life.  When my great grandmother, Sarah Harrell, took me at age two, to nurse me back to health when my mother and I were very sick, the Lord saw fit to grant me through the prayers of my great grandmother the joy and happiness of The Abundant Life.

 

Thelma Wells is President,  A Woman of God Ministries, Dallas, Texas; a Woman of Faith conference speaker; Professor, Master's School of Divinity; and author of Girl, Have I Got Good News For You! and other encouraging resources.

Sponsored by Master's Divinity School & Master's Graduate School of Divinity