The Secret Sauce of Being 'Blessed'
by Denise Gitsham
Sophia is the Greek word for Wisdom, and Propel Sophia seeks out the voices of truly wise women and asks them to share worked examples of how they express faith in daily life. Pull up a chair at Sophia’s table, won’t you? There’s plenty of space.
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I vividly remember the woman who answered my question, “How are you?” with the surprising answer “Highly favored and blessed!” I’d never encountered anyone with greater conviction that they were blessed, and fewer reasons to justify it. She was a single mother of two, and lived in the toughest neighborhood in Washington, DC. Nevertheless, she was firmly convinced that her cup runneth over; so much so that her email address – MzBlessed@xxxx.com – reiterated this truth every time she communicated electronically.
When I met Mz. Blessed, I was working at a prestigious law firm, and rolled in influential circles. I had the Mercedes I’d always wanted, a beautiful condo, and traipsed around the world for fun. I also had a great boyfriend, an adorable dog, and amazing parents who were healthy and supportive. Things couldn’t have been better for me in that season, but I still found myself disgruntled. My answers to the question, “How are you?” ranged from “exhausted” to “meh” to “ask me on Friday.”
What was it that Mz. Blessed knew that I had somehow missed? What did it mean to be blessed, and was it even ok to ask for God’s blessing? These answers, I learned, were woven throughout Scripture, and simply required connecting a few dots.
Define Blessing
First off, Mz. Blessed understood both what her chosen moniker implied, and just as importantly, what it didn’t. Scripture doesn’t define the word “blessed,” but gives us ample clues as to its meaning. In Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, for example, the English word “blessed” is considered the best translation of the Greek word “makarios,” which means “happy” and “blissful.” However, Jesus’ use of the word “blessed” to describe people who seem anything but – e.g., those who mourn, are “poor in spirit,” and “hunger and thirst for righteousness”— indicate that being blessed has nothing to do with our physical well-being or circumstances. Rather, being blessed indicates our spiritual fulfillment on which our earthly welfare has no bearing.
Thus, we can be blessed even when we don’t feel like it, if our relationship with God is on point. Obviously, it’s easier to feel blessed when things are going our way, but even that isn’t a guarantee of anything. I didn’t feel blessed even when I was, until I learned to delight myself in the Lord. But once I did, I experienced heartfelt gratitude for all that He is in my life; a feeling that persisted through the inevitable ups and downs that followed.
Know Whose You are
Second, Mz. Blessed was anchored in her identity as an unconditionally loved child of God. I, too, was a Christian, and theoretically, appreciated my salvation. But as the daughter of a “Tiger mom,” I grew up believing that perfection made one deserving of love. Given how woefully short I fell of that standard, I never felt worthy of God’s love. Mz. Blessed knew what I have only recently grasped: that perfection is not only impossible, it’s irrelevant. We cannot do a single thing to make ourselves more or less loved than we already are. Jesus’ sacrifice is what makes us worthy of being permanently and irrevocably blessed.
Ask Your Papa Boldly
Third, Mz. Blessed’s awareness of her status as God’s beloved daughter gave her the boldness to ask Him for everything she wanted; a truth that Scripture reiterates in both the Old Testament and New (Psalm 37:4, Matthew 21:22). Moreover, the Bible tells us that God is the best Dad, who loves giving good gifts to His children (Matthew 7:11). This revelation transformed my prayer life, from safe (read: weak) to BHAG (big, hairy, audacious, and goal-oriented). The more my life aligned with the perfect will of God, the more fruit my prayers yielded with supernatural outcomes.
Every Scripture I’ve studied since meeting Mz. Blessed, points to clear answers to my questions: YES, God wants us to ask him for blessings, and he loves blessing us in response! God draws us to Himself through our desire to be blessed, and isn’t the cosmic kill-joy that some wrongly portray him to be.
One important thing to remember, however, is that only God knows what constitutes “blessings” in our lives. Thus, God’s blessings lie in the wake of our total surrender to His will. He knows what’s truly good for us. When our hearts are surrendered, we can boldly approach Him with a laundry list of requests, knowing that God will give us “whatever we ask for” when we do so “in His name” (John 14:13).
DENISE GRACE GITSHAM
Denise Grace Gitsham is a recovering attorney, author, speaker, dog mom, and founder of Vitamin D Public Relations, a boutique strategic communications firm that operates at the intersection of law, policy, media and politics. Her forthcoming book, Politics for People Who Hate Politics: How to Engage without Losing your Friends or Selling your Soul, hits the shelves Fall 2023.
