It may seem to you like America has lost its way. The pilgrims must have had similar thoughts (but in a much more literal way) when they had to lower the sails on the Mayflower and go adrift at sea for a while.
Despite all of their hardships, though, the pilgrims eventually reached Cape Cod and returned thanks to God for bringing them to a whole new world.
Hardship and tribulation can easily cause us to adopt a negative attitude towards life. So, during times of hardship I am often reminded of the old church hymn, “Count Your Many Blessings.” The first stanza of that hymn says, “When upon life’s billows you are tempest tossed,When you are discouraged thinking all is lost, Count your many blessings, Name them one by one.“ What many people don’t know about this hymn is that it was composed by a clergyman named Johnson Oatman Jr. in 1897. Rev. Oatman was a struggling preacher from New Jersey who never secured a full-time position in the ministry and he often questioned God’s calling upon his life. However, at the late age of 36 he discovered his talent for hymn writing and he composed more than 500 hymns thereafter. Of course, his most famous hymn was “Count Your Many Blessings.”
