Monday, June 09, 2008

Praising God through the hard times

These past two weeks have been hard...not for any particular reason, just in general. Yesterday I was really struggling with how to stop feeling so down and depressed, and I sensed God saying, "Praise me in spite of the difficult times". Even though it is hard to want to praise God when things aren't going the way I want them to, it can make all the difference in the world. In fact, it is really the only way to get through tough times. My first inclination is usually to pull away from God in anger whenever things don't go my way, but I have to remember that I don't have to feel like praising God in order to do it, and He really does have my best interest at heart.

1 comment:

Full of Grace said...

Honestly, I can relate...When I lost my daughter Grace, I "lost" God for a time. I didn't want to go back to church, and I certainly didn't want to sing praises to Him after "He took away my daughter from me". It really took me time to find joy in Him again because I couldn't find joy anywhere else. I struggled and I know that He was the reason I came back around again, He fenced me in, that way I could "go" but couldn't leave altogether.

I also struggled with the questions "WHY WHY WHY?" It just didn't make sense that God would allow me to carry the child I was desperate to love only to give birth at a rest stop when she was only halfway ready to join our family. Then I had the personal conflicts of "WHAT IF".

I cannot say that I did a good job praising him in the hard times, in fact I did a crummy job of it BUT I'm glad that God is patient and loving, and that He cared enough for me to bring me back into His fold after such a tragedy hit my life.

Praying you feel better very very soon :) Sending you a hug too! :)