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Good morning!

As I continue to examine the possibility of praising God for all things, I have had to think much deeper on this. 

To some people it seems like praising God for things that are painful is assigning blame to God for something that should be credited to the devil. I agree that evil comes from the devil and that God only gives us good gifts. However, do we believe that God can take something that was meant for evil and turn it to good? I say yes. I have seen it so many times and in so many ways. 

One example that comes to mind is our family friend, Elaine. Her son took his life years ago and that pain seemed endless and pointless. I do not believe God causes things like this to happen. No one can fathom that depth of pain unless they go through it. However, Elaine has come to a place where she has used all of that pain for a good purpose. She has provided hope as she has counseled, written books and spoken to countless people over the years. 

We live in a broken world and we need people who can shine the light of hope in the darkness. One day we will be able to ask God about these things. Or, maybe, we will not need to ask. But we do have the choice now to use the things we go through to strengthen us and help others or to stay in a pit of pity. I, for one, couldn’t blame someone like Elaine for choosing to stay in a pity pit but then what if she could save someone through her story? Could there be some redemption for the pain? I believe there is.

You and I might feel silly for any pity party we allow ourselves to fall into when we compare our lives to Elaine. But, in the big picture, aren’t we all here to help one another and point each other to Hope…….aka Jesus our Redeemer?!

This message, as I come to a close, may never get published. Even now, I sit here considering deletion. Why? Because I cannot fathom some levels of pain people endure and I am so cautious of being cavalier in the way I write this. My heart aches for the loss some people experience. However, still, something deeper inside of me says, God isn’t finished with those beautiful, precious people. 

And so, let us praise Him. He is eternal, all-knowing and mighty beyond our understanding. We can trust Him. And so we praise.

Precious in the eyes of the Lord is the death of His saints. Psalm 115:15