In a world overcome with anxiety and depression, it can be tempting to think that we are alone and unloved.
At times it can seem like every bad thing happens to us and that God is nowhere to be seen.
Yet, if we take a step back and truly examine our life, we will see the numerous gifts God has already given to us.
God's gifts
St. Francis de Sales recommends this practice in his Introduction to the Devout Life, encouraging the reader to dwell often on God's graces:
[I]f, as the Angelic Doctor says, the real way of attaining to the Love of God is by a careful consideration of all His benefits given to us, then the better we realize these the more we shall love Him; and inasmuch as individual gifts are more acceptable than general gifts, so they ought to be more specially dwelt upon.
He further explains that as much as we dwell upon our sins and the bad things that happen to us, we should in turn think about all the good things in our life:
Of a truth, nothing so tends to humble us before the Mercy of God as the multitude of His gifts to us; just as nothing so tends to humble us before His Justice as the multitude of our misdeeds. Let us consider what He has done for us, and what we have done contrary to His Will, and as we review our sins in detail, so let us review His Grace in the same.
The key is to remember that everything that is good in our life comes from God:
There is no fear that a perception of what He has given you will puff you up, so long as you keep steadily in mind that whatever is good in you is not of yourself.
God is a loving Father, who gives good gifts to his children. God is the source of every single grace or good thing you have in your life.
This is good news, as it means that we are not alone and unloved. On the contrary, we are infinitely loved and God constantly surrounds us with his loving arms.
Sometimes we just need to step back and see the good, letting God embrace us with his love.
