Where do blessings come from?

I have recently been reminded by a sister in Christ of how beautiful an attitude of trust in the Lord can be - and how much freedom and peace can be gained from such an attitude. So often we lose sight of the ways in which God is making us holy. Imagine that - we are being made holy! That can't be an easy process. So when difficult times rear their ugly heads, like death-dealing dragons, I can ask several questions.
Often the question is: Why? or Why me? But if I am living in trust (in faith), then I can ask a different question and see the real reality of life with the King of kings. I can ask: What is God going to do with this? Not "What is He 'able' to do with this." He IS able. And when we look back, hindsight makes everything perfectly clear. So why not look ahead in faith?
Matthew shares Jesus' words with us about this kind of faith when he talks of being blessed (see Matthew 5:1-12). Blessed are the poor in spirit. Blessed are the meek. Blessed are those who weep. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst. Blessed are those who are persecuted. These are not pleasant things that happen - they are times of struggle. And in times of struggle we are shaped and formed, like clay in the potter's hands.
So when my life gets difficult (and even when it all seems to be going so well), I can look for the blessings and ask: "Okay, Lord, what are you going to show me now?" Blessings come in all shapes and sizes, but we can easily miss them if we do not open our eyes and see as God sees.
This past month has been a mixed bag as far as 'good' and 'bad' days. But the blessings have been there every day. We are still looking at what God is going to do with some things - like our sister-in-Christ who is sick, or another sister struggling with fear or worry in her life. But I have learned to expect mighty things from our mighty Master.
We are thankful for the blessing of being able to sing together. We are blessed by the distance that separates us from our children, because we still get to talk to them weekly. We are blessed with days of meeting with and talking to many different people - people who are looking for the Lord in their lives and people who challenge us to look for the Lord in our lives.
How is God blessing you today?