September 29, 2025 Devo

A great piece of advice I heard one day was from a secular radio station. As I was driving into work, listening to a pop music station, the DJ posed a question to their listening audience and asked people to call in with their response. The question was, “What do you do when you can’t sleep?” Callers were all sharing their thoughts with various suggestions, ranging from reading to breathing techniques to getting up and working until they were too exhausted to continue.
But I thought one woman had a really cool idea. She said, “When I can’t sleep, it’s usually because of stress. I’m worried about what’s going on or what I fear might happen, and stuff like that. But I’ve discovered how to help myself relax and drift off to sleep. I start naming all of my blessings, from large to small. They might be as large as being grateful for a caring husband to as small as making every green light on my way to work. But as I name them, one after another after another, I find myself being bathed in the realization of how blessed I am. And I just begin to relax and fall asleep.” What incredible, wonderful advice.
We forget to remember, don’t we? When we’re stressed, facing a struggle, or dealing with a problem that’s consumed our minds, we forget how many problems like this God has brought us through before. We forget how many times we prayed for wisdom and God granted it. We forget how many times we came to the end of ourselves and found God faithful. We forget how God made a way when there was no way before us. We forget how God has provided in ways that we never saw coming. We forget how many times we faced things like this before and came through smelling like a rose. And when we forget to remember, the problems win.
Look at what David says in our psalm today. “May I never forget the good things he does for me.” David knew what the woman who called the radio station knew. Remembering how God has already blessed is the best stress-busting technique there is. Try it out tonight when you can’t sleep. Or try it out this morning before you head to church. Take a moment, sit back, and just begin to name your blessings out loud one by one. Big blessings of people whom God has brought by your side. Little blessings of things as simple as a flower in your garden or a smile from a stranger.
Start naming those blessings, and something wonderful will begin to happen. The tightness in your neck will begin to ease. Your blood pressure will begin to lower. Your heart rate will begin to slow down. Your fear will begin to subside, and your faith will begin to rise. The funny thing is, nothing around you has changed. It’s the same day, same problems, same struggles. But something WITHIN you has changed. You remembered. You’re loved. You’re blessed. You’re a Child of the Living God. It’s who you REALLY are! As Paul said, you are “more than a conqueror through Christ Jesus our Lord.” That is, as long as you don’t forget to remember! That’s God’s Word for you today.