Bridget A. Thomas
Every day is a gift!
A Secret to Praising God
Over the last several weeks I have been talking about praising God. Today I want to share a secret with you. Sometimes we might not feel like praising God. Perhaps we are anxious, worried, stressed, angry, or feeling some other negative emotion. We might be so wrapped up in an issue or circumstance we are facing, and our hearts just aren’t into praising God at the moment.
Here is a secret – that is when you need to praise God the most! Once you begin to praise Him, your heart and your mood will turn around!
I have seen this firsthand in my own life over the past several months. When I am feeling down or worried, praising God always gives me a boost. One example comes from before the pandemic, which is when God first started speaking to me about praise. It was a Monday morning. My husband had to tend to some important banking matters that day. Normally I would have asked my boss if I could take a couple of hours off so I could help my husband. But I had an important meeting that day as well. So there were two things weighing on my mind that morning. I was anxious and fretful. As I drove to work, I took the time to praise the Lord.
Then something miraculous happened. I felt peace settle over me. I was no longer worried about the big things my husband and I were facing that day. I knew God was in control and He would help us through them.
This wasn’t a coincidence or a one-time thing. Over the past several months, throughout the pandemic, or when I have been feeling down about something, I have praised God. Each time, I have felt my mood lighten. It’s an amazing feeling. You heart pours out to God, and He in turn fills your heart.
Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God. – Psalm 42:11
Challenge: Over the next week, I challenge you to try this. When you are feeling down, worried, anxious, depressed, angry, fretful, sad, or any other negative emotion, stop what you are doing and praise God. I guarantee you will feel better. Try it for seven days and let me know how it goes!
I want to share a song that I have been LOVING these past several months. It is now an absolute favorite of mine. It is guaranteed to make you smile. Alive & Breathing by Matt Maher
© 2020 Bridget A. Thomas
Photo courtesy of Pexels.
Bridget A. Thomas 
I agree that praising God turns things around. It’s a bit different when you’ve been going through on going long term struggles. That turn around hasn’t been immediate for me. I am struggling mentally to even remember what to praise Him for, so I’ve had to write myself out a list. It sounds terrible and it feels terrible. It should be a lot easier to praise God. I don’t know. I feel like I have so much to work through to get to where I want to be. I am reading through the book of John. This time through I’m looking up what the commentaries say for each verse. So far this has been really interesting. For me it might be a bit more slow going because I only have a vague idea of why I am struggling so much, but I have to trust God to lead me through this one step at a time.
As always, your posts are very comforting, encouraging and full of wisdom, Bridget. ❤
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Tina, thanks for sharing your heart. I have been where you are, so I do understand. Sometimes the process does take longer than we’d like. And sometimes everything looks so dark, we just can’t grab hold of the right things to pull us out. But I have to say, you have Jesus and you are trying. Those two factors are essential. And not everyone can say that. So you are on the right track. And the good news is that during all of this, you are drawing closer to the Lord. I love that you are reading John and you are also reading the commentary for each verse. I actually started doing that for the Psalms as well. Yes it is slow going. But there is much insight to be gained. I will be writing about praise for the remainder of the month, so hopefully those posts will bring you more encouragement. ❣️
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I do love gaining insight, so I have that going for me as well. I do believe that I will get there. It may take longer than I want it to, but I do believe that if I keep trusting Jesus and keep focusing on Him I will renew my strength. I shall look forward to reading more on what you have to share about Praise. Thank you so much for all of your encouragement. You are a beautiful person and a wonderful friend and sister in Christ. ❤
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Aw thank you! You’re trying to make me cry! And I feel the same way about you too! I am so glad God helped us find each other through our blogs! 💜
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Hehe. 😆 No, I’m not trying. I didn’t know that would make you teary. I’m just grateful for the beautiful people that God surrounds me with, and thankful that you’re one of them. ❤ Take care, Bridget. May your days be blessed as you have been a blessing to me and likely many others. Okay, now I'm trying to make you cry. Lol.
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Lol. Yes you are! Thank you! I am so thankful too! God is so good! And I pray blessings for you, my friend! ❤️
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I love the idea of praising God through the negative!! I’m definitely going to be doing this. I think it’s something the entire world should be doing, too! ❤️
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Such a good point! The world seems to get worse and worse with negativity. And that makes it so much harder on those trying to be positive because we are surrounded by it. But we are called to be a light in the darkness. Thanks for commenting, Michelle. I am so glad to know you enjoyed the post! 💕
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Truth. I’m still struggling to learn to praise God when my path feels confused and out of sorts. So maybe I need to look at praise as lighting a candle in the darkness.
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I know what you mean. Feeling out of sorts can be uncomfortable, for sure. I have those days too. In fact, today was one of those days. I am trying to learn to just enjoy His presence and not worry too much about what comes next on the path. This can be difficult to do. But I think once we can settle in, it will be well worth it. I love what you said about looking “at praise as lighting a candle in the darkness.” Yes! That is a beautiful way to put it! 🕯
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I appreciate your frequent reminders of God truths.
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Praising God through our valley moments is something that is hard to do but I do agree it is something that is good and very much needed at those times. It helps us stay focused on God and shifts our eyes to Him rather than always looking and feeling overwhelmed with our problem. One of the ladies at my bible study mentioned something that stuck with me. She said, when we are in the valley, our voice echoes. so we have to keep speaking out scripture, praises and promises of God so that the what echoes back to our ears are those rather than negative, depressing thoughts and it also does not give room for us to hear Satan’s lies. An excellent reminder Bridget. Stay safe my dear friend.
P.S Just wanted to let you know that for some reason I was not able to see this post on my word press reader as I usually do which makes it very convenient to know when your new post comes up.
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You are right, it is not easy to praise God in the valley. But I do believe if we can get to that point, it will help turn things around. Wow, I really love that about the echo!! Such a beautiful thought. Thanks for sharing that! I especially love the part about not giving room for us to hear satan’s lies. That is half the battle right there! Thanks for commenting! I am so glad you enjoyed the post. 💜
And thank you for letting me know that this did not appear in the reader. Strange. For some reason this post has had other issues as well. Some email subscribers received two emails, while others received only one. And it also posted on my Facebook author page twice, but one of them had an invalid links. Perhaps I should contact WordPress to see what’s up.
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Yep, probably better to check with WordPress if you are having any issues.
You’re welcome 😊
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Thank you Bridget for visiting my site. I am new to your writing and I have enjoyed your post and excellent advice and insight 😊 Praise on Sister 🙌 💕
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Aw thank you! I am new to your site too. Judy mentioned that you were writing about Joshua, so I wanted to check it out. I haven’t had a chance to read the posts yet, but I am looking forward to them. 💜
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😊👍 Thank you ❤️
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