Psalm 103:2 NKJV “Bless the Lord,

O my soul, And forget not all His benefits:”

The other day a friend of mine walked into the room where I was seated, and with a big grin on his face began to tell me about reading up on all the benefits his new place of employment was going to provide him. The big toothy grin indicated two things to me. One, this compensation package was really nice, and two, he was recognizing something funny that had recently happened to me.

For the past decade, my wife, Missy and I had been trying to get out of debt but never fully reaching the desired result. It seemed like every season brought with it a car repair, a broken appliance or emergency survival purchase always keeping our dream out of arm’s length.  We finally did away with all credit cards, were working with a debt management company and watching the income/outflow process a lot more carefully.  Well, as of yesterday, we wired one last big amount to have all remaining payments covered and accounts closed!  (virtual fist bump to each of you) Yeah, I’m seriously happy about that whether anyone else in this world would ever care or not. But I do find it amusing how it finally happened.

Last week I received a letter from Colorado PERA.  For nearly ten years, I had worked with the Boulder Valley School District as a supervisor in the School Age Care program and primarily worked at Aspen Creek K-8 here in Broomfield.  Most teachers are fully aware and understand what Colorado PERA is but apparently I missed that part of one (or more) of the trainings…for TEN YEARS!  This is for a Pension Retirement plan that is taken out of your paychecks and then the state of CO matches it.  Low and behold, I had a retirement account sitting there in my name this whole time, and I had no idea!

Know your benefits!

This is something that has now become a revelation to me on a whole other level!

The writer of Psalm 68:19 said

“Blessed be the Lord, Who daily loads us with benefits, The God of our salvation!” And later in Psalm 116:12 we read “What shall I render to the Lord For all His benefits toward me?”

The word is plural in all three of these verses, so my low comprehension of the English language tells me that there is more than one benefit.  As with my former employer setting back a retirement account, knowing and walking with Jesus brings each of us an ever expanding list of supernatural, as well as natural benefits. Things that are by definition, advantageous or good.  But many of us don’t know what they are.  Oh, we may have heard something here or there some preacher said, but how often have we cracked open the manual ourselves to see what Jesus provided for us?  Even if you daily take time to read the Bible, I want to tell you that there’s so much more in there for you to discover.  And with the season we are living in, how good would it be to know what God has truly provided for you to enjoy and experience!  So maybe a good step would be to take some time this week and download a free Bible app like, YouVersion.  There are topical reading plans in it that take the guesswork out of where to start.  Just jump in and see what you discover.

And yes, once I realized how much was in that newly discovered Pension fund, we’re rolling it over to an IRA, and cashed out another investment we had to pay off the rest of our debt!  All I can say is that it’s good to discover your benefits!