It was so nice to be at church this morning and to sing praises to the Lord! I just really enjoyed it.

Our children’s choir performed their play tonight and it was about how can we praise God when we are in the middle of hard circumstances. Wouldn’t it be easier to wait until things got better before we tried to praise Him? The answer is, sure it would be easier, but it is BETTER to center our hearts on Him regardless of our circumstances just because He is worthy and our privilege to praise Him adds to our joy, regardless of the circumstances. It was an encouragement and a challenge.

All I know is that when I praise Him, my heart doesn’t focus on me and that is ALWAYS a good thing! I get so sick of myself, I live with myself and listen to myself all day long, day after day, month after month, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera (can you tell we’ve watched The King And I recently?? ;-)). I LONG to get away from myself and to focus on someone else. And when I praise the Lord, I can do that. I can pull out of my shell and put all my being to be looking to God and just rejoicing in who He is!

Ahhhh, that is refreshment!