“God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.” – Psalm 46:1

I feel like giving God some praise today!

I’ve been going through a bit of a rough patch recently. I’ve felt hurried, frustrated, and tired like the pressures of life have been dragging me down. My family has felt it, my co-workers, and especially myself. But there’s also one other person who has felt it, Jesus.

It’s hard to understand, but God “feels” for us during our trials. He knows us inside and out. He knows our pain and our frustrations, but take heart. God says that we are not alone in our trials. When we accept Christ, He lives in us and through us. His Holy Spirit is with us as our comforter and He is a comforter like no other.

In order to be a good comfort in the midst of a struggle, you must be familiar with those struggles. To help deal with a friend’s pain effectively, you must be familiar with the pain. Take comfort that our Savior is no stranger to pain. The bible says he was tempted in all ways and that He bore our sins on the cross. When His friend Lazarus died, Jesus wept even though He knew what would happen next. He went through all of the pain because of what waited on the other side of that pain. And in all things, He kept looking up and praising the Father.

Before breaking bread and handing it out to the multitudes, He looked up and thanked His Father in Heaven. Jesus blessed the bread through His praise. We need to truly understand that. Our struggles will bend us and sometimes break us, but the bible says in ALL things give thanks to God. If we foster a habit of constant praise, no matter the situation, we will be blessed far beyond what we could imagine. The bread was blessed and then became a blessing to many. The bread fulfilled its ultimate purpose because of it breaking, not in spite of it. Jesus will bless us through our trials so that when we come out of them, those trials will in turn make us into the blessing that many others need to help them through their own trials. God likes to use the ordinary to do the extraordinary.

So this day and every day, no matter the situation, we need to give praise to God our Father. We need to come to Him even when we don’t feel like it. Smile up at God because He’s smiling down on us. Take comfort that He is here with us and has something wonderful in store for us. It may be a rough road for us now and then, but Christ is there to offer His love and His comfort to us and through us.

“And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain.” – Revelation 21:4

Give God the praise for it right now!

DH