“Have you ever thought that in every action of grace in your heart you have the whole omnipotence of God engaged to bless you?” – Andrew Murray1
“God bestows His blessings without discrimination. The followers of Jesus are children of God, and they should manifest the family likeness by doing good to all, even to those who deserve the opposite.” – F. F. Bruce
“The hardest arithmetic to master is that which enables us to count our blessings.” – Eric Hoffer
“Blessed are they who see beautiful things in humble places where other people see nothing.” – Camille Pissarro
“When we lose one blessing, another is often most unexpectedly given in its place.” – C. S. Lewis
“It’s a fact of earthly life that when God opens the windows of heaven to bless us, the devil opens the doors of hell to blast us. When God begins moving, the devil fires up all his artillery.” – Adrian Rogers
“Some of your greatest blessings come with patience.” – Warren Wiersbe
“God is the only source of hope that’ll never disappoint. When we place our faith in him, he provides joy, peace, and hope that overflows.” – Rick Warren
“God will either give you what you ask or something far better.” – Robert Murray McCheyne
“Concentrate on counting your blessings and you’ll have little time to count anything else.” – Woodrow Kroll
“What we count the ills of life are often blessings in disguise, resulting in good to us in the end. Though for the present not joyous but grievous, yet, if received in a right spirit, they work out fruits of righteousness for us at last.” – Matthew Henry
“I believe with all my heart that standing up for America means standing up for the God who has so blessed our land. We need God’s help to guide our nation through stormy seas. But we can’t expect Him to protect America in a crisis if we just leave Him over on the shelf in our day-to-day living.” – Ronald Reagan
“Lord, if You bless me, I’ll thank You; but if You don’t, I’ll be thankful for what I have.” – Phil Robertson
“Christ frequently gives us the desires of our heart, though not at the peculiar time we desired, but a better time.” – Robert Murray McCheyne
“To deny that God seeks to bless his people is to envision a God who ignores his own recorded words.” – R M Harrington
“All the blessings we enjoy are Divine deposits, committed to our trust on this condition, that they should be dispensed for the benefit of our neighbors.” – John Calvin
“Anything is a blessing which makes us pray.” – Charles Spurgeon
“But there is no greater blessing than to be shaped, molded, and crafted by the gentle working of Christ.” – R. C. Sproul
1 All of these quotes are from the websites below:
40 Quotes about How God Blesses Us | iBelieve.com
When God Blesses You Sideways: The Apologetic Case for Unexpected Grace.
Sometimes God blesses us with exactly what we asked for. Other times He blesses us with something that looks suspiciously like the opposite. Scripture calls these “blessings.” We call them “Are You Kidding Me, Lord?” moments.
But in the Christian life—especially the personal one—unexpected blessings are often the very chisels God uses to shape us into the likeness of Christ.
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If you’ve walked with Christ longer than ten minutes, you’ve already learned a hard truth. God’s blessings rarely arrive wrapped in the packaging we requested.
We pray for strength, and God sends trials. We pray for patience, and God sends people.
We pray for courage, and God sends circumstances that make us want to hide under the bed.
But this is not divine mischief. This is divine craftsmanship.
Curt Blattman reminds us that blessings are not random sprinkles from heaven…they are “Divine deposits… committed to our trust” (Calvin).
Sometimes those deposits come disguised as difficulty, delay, or detours. C. S. Lewis said it plainly: “When we lose one blessing, another is often most unexpectedly given in its place.” That’s not poetic fluff. That’s theology with teeth.
Joshua knew alot about Blessings That Don’t Look Like Blessings (Yet).
When God told him, “Be strong and of good courage,” it wasn’t because Joshua was about to receive a spa day. It was because he was about to inherit a job that would make most men fake their own death.
God’s blessing to Joshua wasn’t comfort, it was presence. “I will be with thee… I will not forsake thee.” That’s the blessing behind every blessing.
And that’s the flavor of the Christian life. God gives us what we need to become who He intends, not what we think will make Tuesday easier.
Courage isn’t a decorative virtue. It’s the doorbell of obedience. God doesn’t call us to a life of ease. He calls us to a life of faithfulness. Faithfulness requires courage precisely because blessings often arrive through the back door.
Eric Hoffer said, “The hardest arithmetic to master is that which enables us to count our blessings.” No kidding.
Counting blessings is easy when they sparkle. It’s harder when they sting.
But Scripture trains us to see differently:
• Trials produce endurance.
• Endurance produces character.
• Character produces hope.
• And hope does not disappoint.
That’s not a Hallmark card. That’s Romans 5:3–5, the mathematics of sanctification.
The Joshua Bible story reminds us that God’s people don’t get to redefine the assignment. We don’t get to turn right or left. We don’t get to negotiate the terms of courage. We walk the narrow path, trusting that God’s unexpected blessings are not detours…they are the road.
R.C. Sproul said, “There is no greater blessing than to be shaped, molded, and crafted by the gentle working of Christ.” Gentle? Sometimes. Other times it feels like spiritual CrossFit. But the shaping is the blessing.
Prayer becomes the lifeline. Scripture becomes the compass. Fellowship becomes the scaffolding. Evangelism becomes the mission. And courage becomes the posture.
We’ve got five clearly courageous principles in our Christian lifestyle: study, faith, evangelism, prayer, and fellowship. These aren’t chores. They’re the channels through which unexpected blessings flow. They are how God turns ordinary believers into dangerous disciples.
John Calvin reminds us that blessings are entrusted to us “on this condition, that they should be dispensed for the benefit of our neighbors.”
In other words: blessings aren’t meant to be hoarded. They’re meant to be weaponized for love.
Even the hard blessings. Especially the hard blessings.
Because nothing testifies to the power of Christ like a believer who walks through fire with courage, obedience, and a stubborn refusal to let go of hope.
Here’s my punchline: Christianity doesn’t offer a sanitized life. It offers a sanctified one. It doesn’t promise predictable blessings. It promises purposeful ones. And it doesn’t claim that God will give us what we want—it claims He will give us what is far better (McCheyne).
That is the worldview difference. That is the Christian advantage. That is the apologetic beauty.
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God’s blessings rarely arrive on schedule, but they always arrive on purpose—and usually disguised well enough to expose whether we’re walking by faith or by eyesight.
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thanks Curt 🙂
🙏🙏🙏🫶🏼❤️