testimonies

Good morning!

One of the things I have watched with eager anticipation is how God transforms me and situations through praise.

Our daughter was having a particularly hard day recently. She is used to excelling in school in every way and sometimes things happen that are unexpected or beyond understanding, especially for someone who plans and puts in the time.

I spent the day doing what I needed to but under my breath I praised God for working in the situation and that He is always taking things that look bad and turning them for good. Normally if one of my kids is stressed, it causes me a great deal of concern and might even swerve my day off into a ditch temporarily. But not this time.

I felt my hope and expectation rest in the Lord. I wasn’t ignoring what was happening but I had a quiet, steady confidence in His ways.

Within a couple of days I heard from her about how God had guided her to certain things she could fix and the teacher of the class made an unexpected announcement about how she would be handling grading.

As I said to my daughter, God works things for good because you love Him. That doesn’t mean the outcome we want or expect is the way it will unfold. Sometimes what we see as a “failure” is actually God’s provision.We may learn something necessary. We may find parts of our personality are refined through what we would deem a failure.

The point is, we can trust God to do what is best and at the time that is best. Our praise is an act of will and faith. It is an action we can take that shows our own brains what trust in Him looks and feels like.

Psalm 107:21-22

Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love
   and his wonderful deeds for mankind.
Let them sacrifice thank offerings
   and tell of his works with songs of joy.