Day 3 : Beginning to see the Light

Began the day in church....doing the most painful thing for me....Praising God.

At the missions trip training, I had to preach, and so did everybody else. My message was titled, The Power Of Praise. At that point, I was still expecting God to work a miracle for me. A miracle of passing my exams and going to the Philippines. I spoke about praising God at all times. I spoke about the life of King David, how his soul praised the Lord, even when things weren't going all good for him. I said, that praising God helped us to put into perspective the troubles that go on in our lives. When we praise God, we are saying that God is bigger than the situation we are in. I told the rest that when we praise God, we are looking beyond the current circumstances, to the end product, where God will make all things beautiful. I even added in my sermon an, 'add testimony here' clause. In the event I did go to Philippines, I was gonna testify God's goodness in seeing me past my exams so I could be there. But I guess God has other plans. As I spoke, I was believing, so sure that in about a weeks time, I would be in Bagiuo, speaking to all the Filipino college kids; challenging them with 3 words, to "Praise The Lord". I closed my sermon with a challenge for God to give each of us a new song of praise to sing to Him, even when at times we didn't feel like it.

And then, my world caved in. And here I was, in the presence of God, struggling to praise Him, so contrary to the confidence I had just a few days ago. But I told myself, live what you preach. And as I did, I cried. Coz it hurt so much. The ironic thing, the first song that went up had Praise The Lord all over it. Felt like God knew my hurt and He was rubbing salt all over it. Or so I thought. But praised Him, I did.

Halfway through, I realised my my heart wasn't so heavy anymore. By the end, I was smiling, my spirit uplifted. Somehow, praising God also lifts up your spirit to rise against the challenges that lay ahead.

Praise The Lord!