A Blessing Jar: How to Best Prepare for Tomorrow’s Unexpected Journey
Before I squeezed my suitcase shut, I took one last wistful glance at our family’s blessing jar. It was April 2024, and we still hadn’t counted our blessings for 2023.
Unpacking the Blessing Jar
For almost a decade, my husband and I had recorded God’s faithfulness daily, then poured out the blessings each New Year’s Day.
But in 2024, I’d been busy anticipating another journey and packing for a long-awaited 40th anniversary trip to Paris. Last year’s trip down memory lane would have to wait while we embarked on a brand-new adventure.
But just before we left for the airport, the phone rang.
“Mom? Taeler’s in the ER. The doctor thinks his cancer’s back.”
My 31-year-old nephew had battled multiple cancers throughout his childhood, only to lose both his parents as a young adult. We rerouted from Detroit Metro Airport to the Cleveland Clinic.
We spent weeks in Cleveland waiting for test results. With my blessing jar miles away, I recorded God’s faithfulness in a journal.
But after desperate prayers, the prognosis was grim. When more family reinforcements arrived, we rushed back home on our anniversary to regroup.
I spotted the old blessing jar right when I walked in the door. It was the only gift I wanted to open.
“Can we unpack the blessing jar now?”
“Sure. Maybe tomorrow morning?” My husband’s focus was on getting back to our nephew.
It seemed impossible to celebrate God’s past goodness amid our current family crisis.
Life was hard, but wasn’t God still good?
I recalled the Holy Spirit-inspired words of Jeremiah in Lamentations 3:21-23: “Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”
Even weighed down by unimaginable devastation, Jeremiah found hope when he remembered God’s faithfulness. We needed to do the same.
Carried By Past Blessings
We emptied the jar one folded scrap at a time, smoothing out the paper, and reminding ourselves out loud. My husband read the last blessing and added it to the growing pile of evidence on our table. It was true. God’s mercies had never failed to arrive.
My husband made a declaration of faith that broke our sacred silence, “I didn’t have any hope, but now I do. Look what God has done.” He pointed to the mountain of proof.
When we returned to Cleveland Clinic, Taeler greeted us with newfound hope of his own.
“You know, I’ve been to a lot of places. I’ve gone to college, Europe, even Israel, but I’ve never seen Heaven. I’m really looking forward to that trip.”
Like Jeremiah, Taeler also discovered that past blessings carry us into the future with faith. Even walking through the valley of the shadow of death, God would go with us.
Four months later, I wrote a bittersweet blessing:
September 12, 2024 –
Taeler Hurwitz arrived in glory, his final destination. Life is hard, but God is good.
I stood holding that tiny paper, tears blurring the ink. The jar that gave us hope for Taeler’s journey now held proof of his safe arrival. Even in grief, gratitude assured me that every unexpected journey leads us closer Home.
An Always-Faithful God
When New Year’s Day 2025 came, there wasn’t one blessing jar waiting; there were two. There were so many pieces of paper crammed into both jars that they didn’t tumble out in any particular order.
It had been a heartbreaking, brutal year, but the first blessing I selected was a reminder that God still showed up in the most tender ways.
May 2, 2024 –
Mom insisted we take a break. Hotel clerk mentioned restaurant nearby. We stepped out of the cab and God’s love flooded my heart. Checkered tablecloth cafes lined cobblestone streets. Accordion music filled the air. The Lord gave us Paris for a night.
Our generous God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Year after year, His compassions never fail. As we praise Him, we pack hope for our future journeys—the ones we plan and the ones we don’t.
When life’s itinerary changes, keep your eyes on Jesus and count your blessings all the way Home.
Meet Nikki S. White
Nikki S. White writes “Just a Broken Believer,” an inspirational blog for believers who love Jesus but fear disappointing Him.
Through easily relatable posts connecting life in a broken world with God’s Word, Nikki touches thousands of readers weekly. Her messages of grace have been featured in Joyful Life devotions and magazine, Steady On University, Living by Design, and The Devoted Collective.
She recently published her memoir, Me, Mom, & Jesus: An Unlikely Love Story of Two Broken Hearts and One Miracle-Working God, and co-authored the Bible study Goodness and Mercy with Angie Baughman.
Nikki and her husband Chuck live in her tiny Michigan hometown, a bike ride away from three highly advanced granddaughters. Though unable to pass an antique store or cute coffee shop, she pursues a minimalistic, abundant life through frequent bouts of heart, soul, and closet decluttering.
Where to find her . . .
Begin Within is a series to inspire a year-round lifestyle of gratitude that will impact not only your own life, but the lives of your neighbors as well. Gratitude is a theme we talk about often around here because it ties so closely into other missional living rhythms. Practicing gratitude reminds to keep our hearts soft and expectant and our eyes open. Therefore, the more we embrace gratitude, the easier it becomes to truly see our neighbors and where we can join what God is already doing in our neighborhoods.
If you would like to contribute to Begin Within, you can find the submission guidelines here.
