Still, Praise God

Some of my favorite praise times have been through tears.  Broken times bring tears....broken times bring healing. 

Today a friend posted a quote from Mother Teresa:

"If I belong to Jesus, He must have the right to use me without consulting me."

I want everything to go as I have planned it.  Perfect house, perfect children, perfect obedience, perfect marriage, perfect ministry, perfect job, perfect health, perfect heart......



Some days I think, "If only...."

The problem is that my desire for perfection would not allow God to work through the tests and trials.  This imperfect life is just what God uses to perfect my faith....

Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.  And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.  James 1:2-4

Through painful experiences, I have learned new ways to rely on God and trust God.  Through losing, I have gained.  Through pain, I have been comforted.  Through shame, I have been lifted up.  Through lonely, I have felt God's embrace. 

I remember Beth Moore saying in one of her Bible studies, years ago, that she had gotten to the point where she was thankful for the things that God had allowed in her life, because it was through those trials that she was able to learn new ways to understand and trust God. 

I think of my friend whose husband died, the other friend who's husband left her, and the teen who lost her mom.  They get Psalm 68:5-6                  

"A Father of the fatherless and protector of widows is God in his holy habitation. God makes a home for the lonely..."

When we see wicked prosper in business and we work with integrity.....we rest in Psalm 37:7-11

"rest in the LORD and wait patiently for Him; Do not fret because of the man who carries out wicked schemes.  Cease from anger and forsake wrath; Do not fret; it leads only to evil doing.  For evil doers will be cut off, but those who wait for the LORD, they will inherit the land.  Yet a little while and the wicked man will be no more;  And you will look carefully for his place and he will not be there.  But the humble will inherit the land and will delight themselves in abundant prosperity." 

When I mourn a sin or broken choice, I hear myself and my loved one in David's prayers in Psalm 51...

"Be gracious to me, O God, according to Your lovingkindness;  According to the greatness of Your compassion blot out my transgressions.  Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin...Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.  Make me hear joy and gladness, let the bones which you have broken rejoice.  Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquities.  Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast sprit within me...The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise."

Even now, as I am writing this, the school just called with the recorded message that all schools are currently in lock down because of an armed prison escapee.  I turn on the news and see the school that our daughter is in now, I get a text from her asking to come home.  I choose to rest in God's sovereignty, and know that he is in charge.  I chose to believe Psalm 91:1-4, 11

"He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.  I will say to the LORD, "My refuge and my fortress, My God, in whom I trust!"  For it is He who delivers you from the snare of the trapper and from the deadly pestilence.  He will cover you with His pinions, and under His wings you may seek refuge;  His faithfulness is a shield and bulwark....For He will give His angels charge concerning you, to guard you in all your ways."

Our storms are all different.  Some are the result of illness, death, personal moral failure and even from the consequences of the sin's of others.  Some storms are temporary and others seem to beat us down for years.  It doesn't matter what it is, how bad it is, or how far away you feel from God.  God is the same yesterday, today and forever.  His love covers even that.  His grace and mercy even reach that far.  Just turn and trust.  Be still, and know that He is God.  Praise Him in the storm and let him teach you His lovingkindness and goodness in the middle of your storm.

Today, I choose to trust God.  I choose to still, praise God...

The bumps are what you climb on. - Warren Wiersbe

Let God have your life; He can do more with it than you can. D.L. Moody