“I will praise you, Lord my God, with all my heart and glorify your name for ever” Psalm 86:12
What better way to look at a Monday and start a week than by praising our God?
“Will you still love Jesus, even if…?”
Hard question to answer on a Monday morning but one many of us have had to face head on. “Will you still love Jesus if you lose your job?“, “Will you still love Jesus, even if you can never have a child?”, “Will you still love God if He takes your child?” So many questions and times in our life in which our faith is called to stand up.
One of my closest most dear brothers in Christ is facing that moment now. His son recently overdosed. The EMTs fought and gave him back his heartbeat but he remains on a ventilator with severe brain trauma. If he survives, it will be with great difficulty and lifelong health challenges. I pray for God’s miraculous healing to confuse the doctors with a full recovery. But, “even if” God’s Divine Will is a different path, for more total and complete healing, I pray my brother’s strength and faith in God shine through. I look up so much to him, but in this I carry you through on my prayers.
I’ve faced this moment and my answer to “even if” was no. This could have been more tragic than even the loss of my daughter that night. But, God had faith in me even though mine was shaken. He rebuilt me that a few years later, faced with the sam crisis, I could pray over her and tell God, “she is Your daughter, and even if You bring her home to Your side, I will love and praise You, Lord.”
There is no doubt that at some point in life we will all face this chasm of despair. Before us will lie tragedy and despair but around us always is the Divine Light and joyful peace of Jesus. Will you lean on God in that moment and say, “yes, I will love You, God, no matter what. Even if…”
It is easy to sing praise when the sun is bright and all is well in our lives and hearts. The true testament to faith and love of God is to sing praise even if the world is falling apart and the storms are raging. In these times, repeat endlessly the prayer, “Jesus, I trust in You”
Our hope is God alone.
“God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change, though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea; though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble with its tumult.” Psalm 46:1-3
Pray for my brother’s son, his situation is dire and he needs nothing less than a miracle.
“It is well with my soul”
“I will bless the Lord at all times;
his praise shall continually be in my mouth.
My soul makes its boast in the Lord;
let the afflicted hear and be glad.
O magnify the Lord with me,
and let us exalt his name together!” Psalm 34:2-4