This is where the healing begins

"Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name." Hebrews 13:15

Have you ever been in a crazy time in your life and looked straight up to the heavens and said, "ENOUGH ALREADY!". I must humbly admit that lately I have been telling God that He is giving me too much. My plate is too full. I have been running around like a chicken with its head cut off trying to help care for our two little girls who are very ill, all the while contracting strep throat and mono myself. I have run myself into the ground trying to do whatever needs done because I want to be in control.


I have been learning praise heals brokenness in a way words alone cannot. When we praise through our pain, God supernaturally empowers us to do what seems impossible: rise above our circumstances. Our praise redirects our focus on Him rather than our rejection, and reminds us that God always welcomes us into His presence. 

Praising God is easy when life is full of happiness and success. However, when we're dealing with our weaknesses, praising God can be difficult; it can feel like a sacrifice. It's not necessarily easy to offer a heart of thanks when we feel like we don't have much to be grateful for. However, the writer of Hebrews advises us to "continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips" (Hebrews 13:15b). Just like fruit is sweet and pleasing to our taste, praise is sweet and pleasing to the Lord.

Praising through the pain (and if I'm honest, sometimes through the self-pity) seems to take strength I don't have to give. But the author of Hebrews 13:15 tells us our ability to praise in hard moments comes through Jesus.

As I tap into His power, my sacrifice of praise will generate more strength to praise, which will generate more praise. It is a beautiful cycle! Praise lifts our eyes from the rejection and sets it on all we have in Jesus: peace, comfort and acceptance.

Would you also join in prayer with me for Lisakaya and Atlehang?
Lisakaya is our beautiful three year old. She came to live with us just over a month ago. She came to us with epilepsy that we have not been able to find the medication to control. She was admitted to the hospital on Thursday of last week because she had five grand mal seizures in one day and that came to a total of twelve in two weeks. Please pray for protection of her brain, heart, and body as this many seizures can damage them. Please pray for peace and rest as this many seizures are extremely exhausting. And please pray for wisdom and discernment for her doctors and us as staff at RHI to know how to best serve this precious little girl.

 And please also pray for Atlehang our wonderful and spunky nine year old. She continues to gain weight and strength through proper nutrition but still remains fatigued and grows tired easily. Pray for her body to be able to fight off any infections and safety over her contracting any infection as she continues to strengthen. She has spoken to several of us about Jesus and is beginning to understand the gospel as her English improves. Please pray that the Lord would soften her heart and and give her hope to accept Him to be her personal Savior.