Suffering SuccessfullySample

Praise in Suffering

As I write this plan, I’m a little over 3 months from unexpectedly losing my mother at age 69, and 2 1/2 weeks prior to losing her, we unexpectedly lost our 11-year-old granddaughter as well.

The shock, the pain, the nervous system overload, the tears, the crushing heartache…are all still very real and present.

I’m a prayer warrior, yet there are some days when I am at a loss for what to pray because the grief that I carry is so heavy. Romans 8:26 reminds me that when I am like this, The Holy Spirit Himself will pray for me "with groanings” that can’t even be uttered! This means He is praying things too deep for words over me and you! This is mind-blowing and comforting at the same time.

What amazes me in this crushing season is "what else” is present as a seasoned believer.

Periods of Peace. Joy. Hope.

How have I been able to achieve these?

Continual praise to God. Continual prayer. Continual studying of God’s Word. Peace can only be derived by saturating myself in the Nature of God and trusting that His Plan is good and will benefit me. God will NOT waste my pain (Rom. 5:3-4)!

Praise, even when we’re in the middle of deep pain, does something supernatural in us. Just look at all the Psalms. If you research it, it is even more interesting that the very first verse of several of the Psalms specifically instructs us to praise!

In the King James version of the Bible, praise occurs 259 times and worship 188 times. But the verses specifically address the subject of praise and worship of God, a total of 254 times (Praise 183, Worship 71)!

David was a prime example of multiple sufferings and choosing to praise through them to get on the other side of them. Paul is another example of praising through the storms of life.

I find that the more I raise my hands in praise, sing praise, or quote Scripture in reverence to God, the more I feel myself being transformed in my heart, mind, and spirit as I travel along this journey of suffering.

Suffering is inevitable, but how we walk in it makes all the difference.