“I will bless the Lord at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth.” Psalm 34:1…………..
If there is one thing that stands out about two of my sisters in the Lord who are going through treatment for cancer at the same time, and who despite living hundreds of miles apart have become friends through the Lord using me to introduce them, it’s this. No matter their diagnosis, no matter their prognosis, no matter their trials, no matter how they feel on any given day, no matter how grueling what they have faced thus far, no matter how much they didn’t ask for this, no matter how much they probably have a zillion things they’d rather be doing than being treated for cancer, and no matter the outcome of what they are going through, no matter what the doctors say, and no matter what the Lord ultimately decides because He is the one who is sovereign and in charge of our lives, it’s this.
They have NOT stopped praising God! I have yet to have one telephone call with either one of them, when no matter how tired they may have been, no matter what the doctors had told them on any given day, no matter how they might have been dealing with side effects from their treatment, no matter the details of their lives, of their individual stories, they have always been so filled with the JOY of the Lord, with the PEACE of Christ, with TRUST in God, with LOVE both from the Lord and for the Lord, with HOPE about their promised future with God in heaven because they are Christ followers and with HOPE about their everyday lives on this earth, with EXCITEMENT about knowing and loving God, and being loved by Him, and oftentimes with testimonies of how the Lord is using them to share the Gospel and minister Christ’s love to the world around them including in the doctors’ offices where they go for treatment.
I wasn’t surprised one day how one of my two sisters in the Lord told me how she’d been standing in front of her stove in the kitchen singing aloud praises to the Lord! Are they thrilled they are going through what they’re going through? Of course not! Would they change it if they could? Most probably so! But what they both have decided to do right from the start is to KEEP LOVING JESUS, to KEEP FOLLOWING JESUS, to KEEP HELPING OTHERS TO KNOW AND LOVE AND FOLLOW JESUS, to TRUST IN CHRIST, to HOPE IN CHRIST, to REJOICE IN CHRIST, to find PEACE IN CHRIST, and TO PRAISE THE LORD despite their circumstances.
Their praise for the Lord is not contingent on their stories, on their challenges and on their circumstances. Their praise for the Lord is contingent on who God is, and He is worthy all the time of all our praise. Hallelujah!
My sisters haven’t stopped praising the Lord. They keep on praising Him! And so, no matter the details of our stories, should we. Because of who He is. He is Lord! Worthy of all our praise all the time, yes, Hallelujah!