Doubt

Recently I heard a talk about doubt and how to overcome it and it really sparked a lot of thought in my mind.

Are there times in your life when you just feel overwhelmed? Or you don't understand why something is happening a certain way in your life? Or you know that God has been faithful in the past, but continue to struggle with worry and doubt that He will continue to provide for you? How do we overcome any doubt that we have in any area of our lives?

From Psalm 145 comes the anecdote...PRAISE!
When our minds tell us the truths...He is Faithful, He is righteous, He is soveregn, He is good, but our hearts tell us "I just can't believe that right now" how do we get there?...by praise.

The first step is from verses 1-2. CHOOSING TO PRAISE GOD.
"I will extol thee, my God, O king; and I will praise thy name for ever and ever. Every day will I praise thee; and I will praise thy name for ever and ever!"
Praising God is a struggle for some. Do we really know what it means to praise God? Do we just praise Him when we feel all lovey dovey and happy, when things are going our way. Or do we praise him each and every day through good times and bad? And then there is a difference between thanking Him and praising Him. Thanksgiving is when we see what God has done in our lives or in the world around us and thank Him for His acts. Praise is when we move past the acts and we adore, affirm, and worship Him for who HE is not what He has done.

The second step is from verses 3-7. VERBALIZING SPECIFIC EVIDENCE OF GOD'S GREATNESS
"Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised; and his greatness is unserachable. One generation shall praise thy works to another, and shall declare thy mighty acts. I will speak of the glorious honour of thy majesty, and of thy wondrous works. And men shall speak of the might of thy terrible acts; and I will declare thy greatness. They shall abundantly utter the memory of thy great goodness, and shall sing of thy righteousness."
We can praise God in singing, celebrating, or speaking of His greatness. How many times does it happen when we are going through a struggle do we constantly dwell on the problem or issue until it has grown into such an overwhelming and all consuming problem. I like to call it a "women" thing. I tend to think of one problem and then go on the "woe is me" tangent and list 10-15 other problems that when bundled all together just seem like the end of the world. When we do this we are shrinking our view of God. Instead we need to focus on praising Him instead of dwelling on our problem and thinking of ourselves. Trust me, this takes practice!

We need to list out the acts in our lives that He has done. The evidence we have seen thus far, or even in generations before us. So for me, it starts as being blessed with my family and having Godly parents growing up, being brought to the foot of the cross and having Christ as my personal Saviour, meeting Tadd and being blessed with an amazing husband, being blessed by having Laynie and being able to look back and see His faithfulness throughout our journey, and then being blessed with two more wonderful children. and the list goes on and on. And this is only a list of the major acts in our lives. Imagine if we really delved into all the little acts in our lives and of those around us how many things we could see God in.

Which moves us to the last step 3 verses 8-10: FOCUS ON GOD'S CHARACTER AND ADORE HIM.
"The Lord is gracious, and full of compassion; slow to anger, and of great mercy. The Lord is good to all; and his tender mercies are over all his works. All thy works shall praise thee, O Lord; and thy saints shall bless thee."
When we can look at all the acts He has done in our lives it causes us to search towards His ways. The fabric that makes up the character of who He is. His awesomeness, faithfulness, goodness, and soveriegnty in our lives. To realize that God is good. He takes Holy pleasure in our happiness...Holy pleasure! Can we imagine that? God is eager to become friends with us and give us a richer and deeper relationship with Him than we could ever imagine possible.

I am sorry if I seem to be going on. This talk just really hit home to me today. The funeral of a young man took place today and it always brings the reality and fraility of life to the surface. There are still days where it seems like I am back in a room getting the call on the phone telling me I will never bear children. Or I flashback to the day I held Laynie for the last time. Grief is hard, it is raw, and it never goes away. But, He is faithful. And I pray that I can continue to praise Him with every breath that is in me each and every day. Truly praise Him for who He is. Because if you had asked me 10 years ago what I thought my path in life would be...I would never have imagined it would be what it is today... And we can find peace in knowing that God knows what our futures hold.

This is a song that also played today and really touched my heart and I hope you will take the time to listen to it too :) And whatever struggle or trial you are facing, or doubts that are creeping in...that you will CHOOSE to PRAISE HIM!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFqGSKcyvbc