Praise puts things in perspective

I was driving one day when I turned on the radio to a program I don’t usually listen to. The content caught my attention so much that I actually tuned in the home stereo upon my return to the house. I sat on the couch, knitting and listening to the interview.

It was not even the conversation itself that gripped me as much as a sense that God was telling me, “This information is for you. You’re going to use this.”

I didn’t finish the hour-long program, but I did order three copies of the featured resource, thinking I would use them in ministry to someone yet to be determined.

By the time the copies of The 30-Day Praise Challenge by Becky Harling arrived, I knew I was sending one to my mother. She and my stepfather have been going through some heavy trials in the past year, and I thought it would be a nice encouragement to go through this praise challenge with her. We began the experiment with childlike anticipation. 

By about day 7, I was like a giddy girl who receives a gift “just because.” I had quickly become aware that God laid this challenge on my heart to change me.

This has been a tough homeschooling year for me. Sparing you the details, I will just say that I have had many discouraging, overwhelming days when my mind knows the truth, but I can’t get my heart and emotions to align with what I believe.

But a week into the praise challenge, I could tell a change had already come over me. I was hesitant to rejoice about this life development too openly. “Is this going to last?” I asked myself.

However, yesterday was day 30, and the change is still here.

The bottom line: Praise puts things in perspective. And I appear to have had a long-term perspective change.

I have taught that good truth about praise for years. We as believers tend to overlook praising God, jumping right into our many requests. But if we approach God with awareness and gratitude for Who He is, all our concerns and requests are viewed rightly: dwarfed in the presence of a mighty, loving God.

I knew this, but clearly I was not living it as well as I could have been.

Through her book, Harling taught me to incorporate the discipline—the joy—of praise into each day. I have spent 20-or-so holy minutes worshiping Him for Who He is, journaling about what I’m learning during this time, etc. And this has changed the way I think throughout the day.

When I feel like I’m about to lose patience with a child who has done a poor job on a chore yet again, I proclaim, “I praise You for Your strength! I praise You for Your patience!”

When I am trying to charge the battery of the vehicle on a sub-zero morning and my cell phone drops deeply into the mechanical maze under the hood, I say, “I praise You for Your goodness! I praise You for being mighty to save!”

What a change from, “Please warm my bleeding hands and help me get this car started, so I can get my daughter to school on time!”  

The difference: God is bigger than all of my trials—big and small. I acknowledge it, believe it, and rejoice in it.

Challenges grow much smaller that way.

Again, praise puts things in perspective. May I forever praise Him (see Psalm 63:4).

This song by Francesca Battistelli nicely encapsulates the key benefit to praising God.