Blessings Abound
Katherine Scherer and Eileen Bodoh
K & E Innovations LLP (2025)
ISBN: 978-0974855011
Reviewed by Tammy Ruggles for Reader Views (06/2025)
Blessings Abound: Awaken to the Gifts at Hand, by authors Katherine Scherer and Eileen Bodoh, is a tour guide through the land of blessings and the different forms they take. In this brief but powerful and inspiring journey of thought and reflection, you’ll find the subject of blessings examined and explored in depth, and divided into three sections: Blessings Received, Blessings Taken for Granted, and Blessings Found in Disguise.
In today’s troubled world, this book couldn’t come at a better time. With the many challenges we face every day, this book is here to remind us how blessed we are and that we can enjoy these blessings if we just know where and how to look for them.
Scherer and Bodoh bring a practical perspective to blessings, inviting us to bring them into all areas of our lives. This book teaches us that if we really stop to think about it, blessings are everywhere, and it’s to our benefit to take notice and embrace them.
The authors encourage us to see challenges and hard times as blessings in disguise, and that difficulties may be for our growth in the end. When you first read, you may not understand how things perceived as negative, like failure or hardship, can be seen as a blessing, but keep reading, and the idea will begin to make sense.
In this book, a blessing is described as a circle of light drawn around a person to protect, heal, and strengthen. A blessing is powerful, manifesting in ways we may have never thought of–ways that can help us on our life’s journey.
I love how the authors say that life itself is a blessing and gift, and we have a certain amount of time to live it, use it, and enjoy it. Another takeaway, among many, is that we have the power to choose a lot of what happens in our lives, and that faith in the unseen is perhaps the strongest faith of all.
Do you know the difference between positive and negative? Do you find yourself speaking more negative things than positive? Attitude is a powerful thing, and so are words and thoughts. The gems within these pages can help guide you toward more positive thoughts and actions.
What I respect about the authors and this book is that they use many sources of wisdom as a foundation for discussing blessings, from the Christian Bible to Thoreau, from Native American beliefs to philosophy, and more—but they impose no certain religion on the reader.
Blessings can be interior or exterior, and can come in many forms, like art, music, nature, the love of humans, and the love of God. The healing and motivating power of music is also covered, and the part about friendship being a blessing is touching and true. One of my favorite quotes from the book about nature is:
“To be able to greet the sun with the sounds from all of Nature is a great blessing, and it helps us to remember Who is the real provider of all our benefits.”–Thomas Yellowtail 1903-1993, Crow.
And one of my favorite quotes from the book about God is:
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; without him was not any thing made that was made.–John 1:1-3 King James Bible.
If you had to list your blessings and gifts, what would that list look like? This simple yet profound book helps you to open your mind to your own personal blessings. Another important feature is that the spiritual side of life is never neglected. The most valuable, encouraging book you read this year just may be this one, Blessings Abound: Awaken to the Gifts at Hand, by Katherine Scherer and Eileen Bodoh.