I was sick on New Year’s Eve. Not a great way to start the year. When I get ill I usually go through a period of feeling disconnected from the Father. My body is in survival mode and my thinking is unclear, which I hate. In my heart I know He’s there, because of what He said, not because of how I feel but I still don’t like how experiencing sickness throws me off.
Once I started to get better, I was sitting in the quiet one morning with the Father, just thinking about all the things He’s known for. It’s so easy to reach for my phone for most things and I got curious about how I would praise Him if I had no Spotify list or no Sunday morning worship team to lead me. For every miracle in the Bible I could think of, that demonstrated His power and love, I wrote it down.
He parted the Red Sea so His people could walk through on dry land to safety.
He delivered Israel out of Egypt which had tormented them for so long.
He held back the Jordan River so that His people could walk through.
He made the sun stand still so Joshua and His people could have victory over their enemies.
He opened up Sarah’s womb.
He opened up Rebekah’s womb.
He opened up Rachel’s womb.
He opened up Hannah’s womb.
He restored Ruth and Naomi, and on and on…
Then there’s the things I’ve experienced in my own lifetime.
The more I wrote down, the more I started remembering. It felt invigorating and sobering to know that I’m in the hands of a good God and a loving Father. I’m intent on keeping that list open so I can add to it as Holy Spirit reminds me of things. It definitely felt like it would be a place to return to often because it’s part of how I’m going to give Him the praise He is due. It also felt like it would strengthen my confidence for those times my soul felt low and needed to be reminded.
About a week later, I was driving toward what felt like a life or death situation. I was trying to maneuver directions to my location, asking my Garden family for prayer and feeling my own emotions about to spiral. Holy Spirit brought me back to the list. The reasons to praise! I started to say them one by one, as many as I could remember. I felt peace invade my soul. He’s so gracious. He knows what we need and knows how to bring us back to the truth that anchors us. By His grace alone I made it through that night and one day I’ll be able to tell you the other part of this story, so we can celebrate even more! That day, the truth that we are in the hands of a good Father became more real and I walked away with yet another reason to praise Him. Friends, I encourage you, make your own list. You get to choose what will anchor you. You can choose to release your own voice in the atmosphere and decide that a rock will not cry out in your place. I know sometimes praise doesn’t make sense, choose praise anyway because He is worthy of it.
-Blanca G.