Praising the Lord

Today is a great day! The weather is finally cool. It’s Friday! I’m almost half-way through with radiation. My skin although it is now turning red is still not very itchy. And my energy levels continue to improve. I actually was able to keep up with 24 preschoolers on Wednesday night for Awana! (I think that says a lot doesn’t it?) Yes, today is a great day that the Lord has made.

It’s easy to say that on days like this isn’t it? When my heart is light and full of praise songs, it’s easy to count my blessings. But I was reminded today of a song that meant so much to me last year - when my heart wasn’t so light because I had just been diagnosed with cancer. I was scared and wasn’t sure if things were ever going to be OK again. But at church one of those first Sundays after I found out I had cancer, we sang “Blessed Be Your Name” by Matt Redman. It is a good song that talks of praising our God.  No matter what.  I remember I was singing along to that song with everyone else but I was kind of distracted. And then we got to the part that goes:

You give and take away
You give and take away
My heart will choose to say
Lord, blessed be Your name

When I heard these lyrics, it was very powerful for me. I realized at that moment that I had a choice. I did not have a choice whether or not I would get cancer that is true. But I did have a choice how I was going to react to it. I could get mad. I could feel sorry for myself. I could let my sadness get the best of me. Or I could choose to praise God through this trial. The one word “choose” from the song was what made such a huge impact on me. Just that one word. You see sometimes when things are spirally out of control we feel like everything is happening to us and we can’t control anything. But I realized we can always, always choose our reaction to those trials. And I decided that day that I was going to choose to praise God through this whole trial. No matter what the outcome in the future turns out to be.

This is the song that came back to me this morning. Yes today it is a praise song. I am content and happy and it is easy to say “Thank you God for this day.” But it is my continued goal to choose to praise God no matter what. So today I remember where I have been and where I am now and I thank God for His continued blessings in my life.