Sunday, November 9, 2008

Praising God in Hard Times

"I will extol the LORD at all times; His praise will always be on my lips." Psalm 34:1

Some time ago I burned a CD of my favorite songs of praise. I think I was going through a difficult time, and I wanted to take the focus off of me and turn it toward God. I have found this to be a very effective remedy and have been listening to it this week.

We all have our "pity parties," but if you think about it, they generally stem from focusing on ourselves and our problems. If we instead focus on God and His attributes, reading Psalms or singing songs of praise, it become very hard to feel sorry for ourselves.

Many of us have had a hard week this week and are worrying about our future, but I can almost guarantee that praising God will not only help you feel better, but will remind you that He has things under control.

Some of my favorite Psalms of praise are: 19, 30, 33, 93, 100, 103, 105, 150. Of course, there are many others.

Here are a few of my favorite praise songs. You probably have some of your own.

I Will Praise You in the Storm – Casting Crowns
How Can I Keep from Singing – Chris Tomlin
I Will Praise Him Still – Fernando Ortega
Blessed Be Your Name – Newsboys
Praise the Lord – The Imperials

3 comments:

Smelling Coffee said...

Jill~ I love all of these praise songs too!!! You're so right - praise is a choice - and a good one - even when we don't feel like it. :-)

Melissa said...

there are many praise songs that i love dearly......Praise You in This Storm is definitely in my top 5

Angie said...

What great advise...praising God can bring peace to our troubled soul, if we choose to that is. I agree with Smelling Coffee...praise is a choice for sure.