Praise in the Battle

The biggest challenge I have faced in my recovery from hip surgery has not been the inability to walk, the difficulty doing any task, or even the pain. 

The biggest challenge in this season has been the lack of intentional prayer time with our Lord. 

When I am in the midst of a battle (whether it is spiritual, physical, mental, or emotional), I struggle to feel as though I am seeking God in the fullest way possible. I expect myself to enter the Lord's presence when I am struggling in the same way I do when I am in a place of joy and peace. 

In some ways, this is not a realistic expectation: 
God wants me to come to Him as I am. He wants to embrace every part of me and love every part of me. He knows that as there are shifts in my physical world, there are also shifts in my heart and mind. In the midst of those shifts, good and bad, I come to the Lord with different desires, needs, and levels of energy. The way that I prayed in my previous season does not have to be the same as it is in my current season!

However, there is one thing that I should always seek to do in prayer in any season: 

Praise the Lord.

I am finally at a point in my recovery where I have been able to start going to daily Mass again. I stayed after Mass one morning this week to spend some quality time with Jesus because I had been feeling so distant. One of the verses I read from the book of Psalms during morning prayer said, "May the praise of God be in their mouths and a double-edged sword in their hands" (Psalm 149:6). 

As I started pouring my heart out to Jesus in prayer, I noticed I was expressing to Him all of the things that I was worried about. It was a very long list. This is good and He wants to hear what is troubling us! Once I had exhausted that list of anxieties, the Lord challenged me to tell Him a longer list of the things that I am grateful for. That was even longer and I could have gone on forever with praises. 

Praise in the battle is a game changer.

I am stronger when I praise Him.
I am more trusting when I praise Him. 
I am able to love the Lord, myself, and others more in the midst of hardship when I continue to praise Him. 


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Daily Dose of Jesus

One of the main reasons I accepted the teaching job I currently have is because there is a 6:30 am Mass every day before school. I was not always able to go to daily Mass in college but the Eucharist is something that I desire more and more each time I receive. Now that I am almost a quarter of the way into my second year of teaching, daily Mass has become something that I not only desire but need in order to get through my day. Getting through my day, as a teacher, does not simply mean surviving. Getting through each day with the Eucharist inside of me means that I can shine Christ's light to each of my students even when I don't feel that joy myself. Part of the reflecting process leading up to my hip surgery has been realizing that I will not be able to go to daily Mass. I did not realize how much that would upset me. I desperately need Jesus, not just to be a good teacher but to be a good and faithful Child of God. When any of us walk out of a church anywhere in the world
Read more

Game Changer

Life is not a game, despite how much we act like it is at times. We want to be in control. We want to know and determine our future. In a game, of any kind, you can only do so much to change the outcome. You can only do your part. Sometimes that part isn't enough to make a difference and sometimes it makes all the difference. I've been reflecting on the phrase "game changer" a lot recently. It has come up in my life as a pattern of shifts that I cannot see coming. Sometimes these shifts are good and sometimes they are bad. In the end, God always finds a way to bring good from the bad. God is the ultimate Game Changer. The first time this phrase affected me was during a difficult conversation with my physical therapist. As of mid-August, I had been going to physical therapy for 9 weeks with the hope that the labral tear in my hip would heal without surgery. The outcome had been looking very good. I began physical therapy barely able to walk on my own without the
Read more

Little Joys

Little joys are those things that bring us way more joy than it seems they should. The small things that give us bigger faith, exactly when we need it most. Things we may never tell other people about... Because they wouldn't understand why it brings us joy. But things we know Jesus is smiling and even laughing about with us. My little joys in this season of recovery: Making a 3-pointer in the trash can because it's way easier than crutching across the room Seeing Howie (my roommate's dog) run into the house as I'm in need of puppy kisses Making funny videos for my students while wearing 10 scrunchies and a blonde wig Answering a phone call that it turns out I really needed Eating Chick-fil-a not just once but two days in a row Getting weekly cards from my students Praying on the phone with a random lady at my doctor's office Playing pranks on and with my roommates Having a physical therapist that goes the extra mile for me in
Read more