Christian Books – Donna Louis – Count Your Blessings

Count your blessings, name them one by one; Count your blessings, see what God hath done; Count your blessings, name them one by one, and it will surprise you what the Lord hath done. Are you ever burdened with a load of care? Does the cross seem heavy you are called to bear? Count your many blessings, every doubt will fly, and you will be singing as the days go by. So amid the conflict, whether great or small, Do not be discouraged, God is over all; Count your many blessings, angels will attend, Help and comfort give you to your journey’s end. Christian Books – Donna Louis – Count Your Blessings

The above lyrics are from the favorite gospel hymn “Count Your Blessings” written by Johnson Oatman, Jr. who lived between 1856-1922. It is said that over his lifetime he wrote lyrics for over 5,000 songs. – https://amazinghymns.com/count-your-blessings. Check out my website

Do you realize you are blessed even if you don’t think so? Material and worldly things cannot go with you when you leave this earth. We need to realize that whether we receive small or what we would call insignificant blessings or enormous ones they are all blessings. I want to state this very clearly if you have the heart of a hoarder and not a giver you will never be blessed in the way that you want to. Gods word clearly states that, “For ye have the poor with you always, and whensoever ye will ye may do them good: but me ye have not always.” – Mark 14:7. Christian Books – Donna Louis – Count Your Blessings

Do you have any of the following?

A place to lay your head and sleep

Food to eat

Any magnitude of good health

A true-blue friend that is there always

Are your parents still alive or at least one of them?

Do you have a vehicle to drive whether new or old?

Do you have family members that are there for you?

Do you have a church home where you are fed the word of God?

Do you have use of your five senses?

Do you have clean clothes to wear?

Do you have clean drinking water?

Do you have the breath of life running through you?

Well, if you have those you need to count your blessings. Anything above and beyond that is God blessing you exceeding and abundantly which is what he said in his word, “Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us,” – Ephesians 3:20. By the way we know that all of us have at least one thing from the above list which is the breath of life or else we wouldn’t be seeing or reading this. Check out my website

They say successful people make a list everyday of at least 10 things to be grateful for. Try doing that and see how God will bless your life if you learn to COUNT YOUR BLESSINGS.

Christian Books – Donna Louis – Pride vs Humility

Pride – a feeling that you are more important or better than other people. – https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pride

Humility – the quality or state of not thinking you are better than other people: the quality or state of being humble. – https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/humility

A man’s pride shall bring him low: but honour shall uphold the humble in spirit. – Proverbs 29:23

Let another man praise thee, and not thine own mouth; a stranger, and not thine own lips. – Proverbs 27:2

By humility and the fear of the LORD are riches, and honour, and life. – Proverbs 22:4

Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time. – 1 Peter 5:6

None of us are capable of doing anything if it was not for the grace of God. Those who go around bragging on themselves and tooting their own horn are in for a big fall. It clearly says in the Bible, “But God is the judge: he putteth down one, and setteth up another.” – Psalm 75:7. Check out my website

There was a man in the Bible named King Hezekiah who was the King of Judah when Sennacherib who was the king of Assyria wanted to fight Jerusalem. King Hezekiah was a godly man and informed his army of men before the fight “Be strong and courageous, be not afraid nor dismayed for the king of Assyria, nor for all the multitude that is with him: for there be more with us than with him.” – 2 Chronicles 32:7. King Hezekiah was a sickly man at the time, and he prayed to God to heal him, and God did. He also gave him the victory over Sennacherib the King of Assyria but instead of giving God the glory he became prideful thinking he was the reason for the victory. Due to this God placed wrath upon Hezekiah and the people of Judah in Jerusalem and then quickly Hezekiah humbled himself and God spared his life and the people of Judah. Humility is always the way to go as it will bless your life and open many doors for you. Check out my website

This is the way that John the Baptist was. John went about baptizing many people, but he said one of the most humble words a person could ever say when he stated, “Ye yourselves bear me witness, that I said, I am not the Christ, but that I am sent before him. He that hath the bride is the bridegroom: but the friend of the bridegroom, which standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice: this my joy therefore is fulfilled. He must increase, but I must decrease.” – John 3:28-30. Christian Books – Donna Louis – Pride vs Humility

“Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.” – James 4:10. Practice humility as Jesus did because with all of the miracles, he did he could have been a very prideful person but instead he was very humble in all things including washing the disciples feet. Practice humility as it will bless and elevate your life. Christian Books – Donna Louis – Pride vs Humility

Christian Books – Donna Louis – Restoration

God is a God of restoration on any level for all things

And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpiller, and the palmerworm, my great army which I sent among you. And ye shall eat in plenty, and be satisfied, and praise the name of the LORD your God, that hath dealt wondrously with you: and my people shall never be ashamed. – Joel 2:25-26. Christian Books – Donna Louis – Restoration

God is in the restoration business. If you have lost a job, you had a loved one walk out on you and left you, your health has deteriorated, you have lost your home, you have lost your business, all these any many more can be restored to you by God. Don’t believe those lies that come to your mind that it’s all over, life is forever going to be a downward free fall and you will always be spiraling out of control. The same way that Peter started to drown when he walked on water with Jesus and Jesus extended his hand to Peter and pulled him back up and saved him is the same way that God will do that for you. Check out my website

I am sure you all have heard or read the story of Job in the Bible. Well Job was a righteous man who loved God and lived a righteous life. One day God put Job through arduous testing and took away all that he had. Job lost his business, home, family, and his health. His wife being the only one left told Job to curse God and die. Job did not do that, but he was miserable and at one point did say, “Why died I not from the womb? why did I not give up the ghost when I came out of the belly?” – Job 3:11. After God was finished testing Job the Bible says, “So the Lord blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning. After this lived Job an hundred and forty years, and saw his sons, and his sons’ sons, even four generations.” – Job Chapter 42. Christian Books – Donna Louis – Restoration

No matter what you are going through God can restore you. If it is a health issue call out Jehovah Rapha which means the Lord that heals. If it is a financial issue like your job, your business, paying for your home or apartment, paying your bills etc. call out the name Jehovah Jireh which means the Lord will provide. There are several Hebrew names for God in The Old Testament in the Bible. I have just listed two but you can look them up. Check out my website

Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit. – Psalm 51:12

For your shame ye shall have double; and for confusion they shall rejoice in their portion: therefore in their land they shall possess the double: everlasting joy shall be unto them. – Isaiah 61:7

Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them. – Mark 11:24

God is in the RESTORATION business.

Christian Books – Donna Louis – Procrastination

Procrastination is the thief of time – Edward Young

Procrastination is the art of keeping up with yesterday – Don Marquis

Procrastination is like a credit card: it’s a lot of fun until you get the bill – Christopher Parker

Procrastination meaning – to be slow or late about doing something that should be done : to delay doing something until a later time because you do not want to do it, because you are lazy, etc. – https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/procrastination

Do these quotes reference you? Do these mirror your life? Well, if so, don’t feel bad. Procrastination at one time or another has hauled us all into its grip. Whether it was for a day, a week, a year, or a decade. Once we finally wake up from the comfort of delaying our lives then we realize just how much time we have lost and are trying to come up with a plan to erase all the time we wasted and execute at the rate of warp speed. Check out my website

In the bible in the book of Acts is a story of a man named Felix and his wife Drusilla. “And after certain days, when Felix came with his wife Drusilla, which was a Jewess, he sent for Paul, and heard him concerning the faith in Christ. And as he reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come, Felix trembled, and answered, go thy way for this time; when I have a convenient season, I will call for thee.” – Acts 24:24-25. Now you can go to the book of Acts and read the entire chapter regarding these people. What I want you all to understand here is that Felix called for Paul to hear the word of God and get knowledge regarding Christ but then he decided to delay and send Paul away. The danger in procrastinating in life is that we feel we have control over tomorrow which none of us do. In the book of wisdom in the Bible which is the book of Proverbs it states, “Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring.” – Proverbs 27:1. Christian Books – Donna Louis – Procrastination

When we procrastinate we are actually committing sin. What do I mean by that? We are professing that we know more than God and that we know what tomorrow will be like when we don’t. Only God knows the future. We can make our plans like we do for a weekend getaway or a vacation, but anything can happen. It is very vital that when we are professing what we want or expect to happen that we include the phrase “God Willing”. My best friend’s cousin just passed away unexpectedly and for years all he talked about was all the places he intended to visit when he retired. He had the finances to travel as well as the time, but he chose to keep delaying it when he could have traveled when he had vacation time from work. Now unfortunately these are dreams and memories that he never created. Christian Books – Donna Louis – Procrastination

We all need to “Live Like We Were Dying” the famous song recorded by Tim McGraw. The Bible says, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” – John 10:10. Satan wants us to be lazy and never work and delay everything. This is one of his tactics to prevent us from living the abundant life that Jesus died to give us. “The soul of the sluggard desireth, and hath nothing: but the soul of the diligent shall be made fat.” – Proverbs 13;4. Check out my website

“The greatest amount of wasted time is the time not getting started.” – Dawson Trotman

“Nothing is so fatiguing as the eternal hanging on of an uncompleted task.” – William James

Christian Books – Donna Louis – Choices

Everyday that God provides us with the breath of life we are presented with choices. What am I going to eat for breakfast, lunch, and dinner? Am I going to do intermittent fasting today? When I go to the gym what type of workouts am I going to engage in today? Am I going to work on that proposal for work today or am I going to clear up some backed-up issues? I have a nail appointment after work what color should I have my nails painted and do I want a design? Should I carry an umbrella today since the weather report says there may be rain? The list is endless of all the choices that can be presented to us each day. However, are we being prudent and using wisdom when we make these choices? Check out my website

“My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee; So that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding; Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding. – Proverbs 2:1-3. When we are young, we don’t always use prudence when we are making choices but when we get older, we are supposed to become wiser however unfortunately a lot of us don’t and that is the reality. Recently a man I know wanted to give his girlfriend a great few days celebrating her birthday. He made a reservation at a charming hotel and intended to show her an exciting time. He thought he could just have a wonderful time for the few days and then do a charge-back on his credit card regarding the hotel and get his money back. He issued the charge-back and the credit card company deposited the funds back onto his card. What he didn’t expect is that an investigation would be done and after they completed it when he least expected it all his funds regarding the hotel expense were withdrawn from his credit card and that left him overdrawn and despondent. Christian Books – Donna Louis – Choices

Be careful regarding the choices you make on a daily basis because as we grow older, we should give up foolishness and have the maturity of mind.