When Life is Hard to Bear
“Through Him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God.” Hebrews 13:15
I hadn’t anticipated that what I thought would be a day of grieving turned into a week. Early last week precious memories started flooding my heart and mind. They seemed to just come out of nowhere, washing over me in powerful waves. So—I remembered, I reflected, I cried, I released things to the Lord, and I let my heart heal.
As I walked through this past tender week, remembering Floyd’s “heaven day,” I was reminded yet again of something so important: the power of praise and gratitude! This wasn’t something I planned or thought would be a good idea for this anniversary week. It was very much Spirit-led.
Every time I thought of a loss, a disappointment, a sadness, a feeling of being left alone—I countered it with something that I have to be thankful for. The impact was amazing. The sadness became joy. The feeling of being alone was replaced by a sweet, tangible presence of the Lord. The disappointment was turned into an understanding of special blessings the Lord has brought into my life on our unexpected journey. The loss was replaced by God reminding me of all He has done during this difficult time. Every single thing, every emotion, every heartache, every pain, every tear—as I turned it into worship…it was lifted from my heart. It was amazing. Gratitude and praise are powerful!
As I walked through this over the weekend and was kind of in awe of how the Lord was ministering to me in my grief, someone sent me a very old teaching by Derek Prince entitled “Our Praise Silences the Devil.”* It’s short, 16 minutes long. (You can tell it’s an old message when you look at the styles of the people in the audience. I love the little old lady dressed in bright pink on the front row, carefully taking notes and following along. I felt a kindred spirit with her!)
Derek explains much more eloquently than me how powerful praise/worship/gratitude are. Truly they’re a tool that God has placed in our hands to help us. I’m so glad the Spirit reminded me to use it this past week. It made all the difference in the world. I have a sweet peace in my heart as I enter a new year.
Praise is a powerful, restorative tool that God has provided for us. We often don’t remember to use it. When we offer up praise, it brings God into the center of whatever we are walking through. It reminds us of our dependence upon the Lord.
I’m so grateful that the Spirit led me into praise during this tender weekend. It was the perfect balance for my grief. And God met me in special ways as I offered up praise. He is so good!
Father, help us remember to praise You when life is hard to bear. Amen.
I epically fail at this most of the time lately, but thank you for the beautiful reminder. I know God will meet me and the devil will indeed flee if i practice this😊
Thank you so much for sharing this and I truly do understand. After having three family members go ‘home with Jesus’, all within 90 days, this past year, I need some reminders, that my pain over their ‘absence’ is okay, as ‘they are present with the Lord’, and for that knowledge, I am eternally grateful. I look forward to your thoughts, prayers and all of your tender writings, as over the years, they have uplifted me in a way that is hard for one to understand, unless they have maybe ‘shared’ experiences in their lifetime.
God Bless You and God Bless You All….
Thank you for this reminder. My mom’s “heaven day” is soon approaching and I have been missing her a lot lately. I have so many “thankful memories”. I will be focusing on them now instead of focusing on sadness.