Praise

I recently came across something on another blog that I thought I would share here. It has really challenged me....

“Praise the LORD, all you nations; extol him, all you peoples. For great is his love toward us, and the faithfulness of the LORD endures forever. Praise the LORD.” -Psalm 117:1-2

I recently received this story from a good friend, and it is a beautiful reminder of the power, not just of prayer, but also of praise. I hope it will encourage you as it did me. This young woman has been battling cancer, and she explains one way that God has met her in this trial:

“I just wanted to tell all of you who have supported me throughout my treatments that next week is my LAST chemo treatment! HIP HIP HOORAY! After the last treatment, they will continue to monitor my blood work weekly for about a month. If everything comes back negative, then I will see the doctor once a month for the first year.
“It's been on my heart to share an experience I had a few weeks ago. It was the Thursday after Christmas and about an hour after I got home from my treatment I started to have a reaction. My entire body started shaking like I had the chills, but the shaking continued to intensify and I couldn't get my muscles under control. It was very painful as my muscles repeatedly contracted. A call was made to my doctor, who said to go to the emergency room. My mother-in-law, Dinah, got me into the car and started the 10-minute drive to the hospital. I was praying out loud for God to touch my body and make the reaction stop. I had been praying for about 5 minutes of the ride with no obvious result.
“Suddenly, my thoughts focused on a sermon my husband Bill had taught to the children in our Children's church about David. He and his men were returning home from battle and found their city had been attacked. It was burned to the ground and the women and children had been taken as prisoners. David's men fell to the ground sobbing and turned on David in anger. In the midst of his grief, David found strength in the Lord; He began to praise God. God sent David after the attacking army and gave him the victory over them. Everything was restored to David and his men.
“When this sermon came to my mind, I decided to follow David's lead. I started to pray in a different way. I praised God for who He is, regardless of whether he chose to stop the reaction or not. Within 30 seconds, my muscle contractions had been reduced by 50% and within a few minutes they were gone. By the time we pulled up to the ER, I was okay. They ran a bunch of tests but found no explanation for what happened.
“After thinking about what happened, I feel I was given a glimpse of God's heart. He desires our praises more than anything. In fact, the Bible says that is why we were created and if we don't, then he will cause the rocks to cry out. This experience has impressed on me the importance of praising God regardless of my circumstances. I know that all of us go through difficult times, and I wanted to share this with you and encourage you to praise God through everything. He won't disappoint you.
“Please feel free to share this with anyone in your life that you feel needs to hear it. It has been a powerful experience for me and I feel led to share it with as many people as I can. I love you all!”
-Brandie

We are enjoying the first week of August here. Hard to believe how quickly it is going by. I have finally had enough and took all of B's toys away. I am tired of picking them up. I have sorted them into 4 different tubs and will rotate them out daily if needed. How do you teach kids responsibility? (mom, quit smiling...)