I would like to start off by saying that we serve an AMAZING God!  The Lord has brought me through so many storms and valleys throughout my life that it would literally take a book for me to be able to share it all!  But this is what the Lord impressed upon my heart to share with you ladies, and my prayer is that you will be refreshed and encouraged, knowing that we serve a God who “is able to do exceedingly, abundantly above ALL that we ask or think!”

Last year, our family went through one of the hardest trials that we’ve ever had to face together as a family.  My dad had been in the hospital with some major complications from an everyday procedure he had gotten done weeks prior, and he had to have emergency surgery to have his colon reconstructed.  That, in itself- was very scary and very serious, but little did we know in the days following, the storm we would be facing.  His emergency surgery had been that Saturday, but by Wednesday, instead of him getting better, he was getting much worse.  During this timeframe, our church had a huge outbreak of Covid, and my mom finally convinced the doctor to test my dad for Covid.  He came back positive, and on top of that, he had double pneumonia along with blood clots.  At this point, the hospital sent my mom home, and she was no longer able to go and see him, and she had to be quarantined for the next 14 days.  We weren’t about to let my mom be alone for all those days, and my 14-year-old daughter volunteered to go and stay with her.  The entire time, I felt God had given me peace that my dad was going to be ok, but it wasn’t very long when things began to get much more serious.  I’ll never forget this day…on July 4th, I got a call from the doctor at the hospital.  I was numb as I was listening to what the doctor was telling me- they had done everything they could for my dad, but he wasn’t going to make it through the night, and they were calling the family in for us to say our goodbyes to him.  Long story short, my mom, my husband and I went to the hospital to sit outside the glass room in the CCU where my dad lay.  The nurse spoke to us saying how sorry she was, but they had done everything they could.  I remember looking up at her and saying to her, “He’s not gone yet, so we’re gonna keep praying!”  She replied, “You don’t understand.  Your dad is the sickest man in this hospital, and I don’t want to give you a false hope.”  I responded back to her, “You may not know my God, but we serve an amazing God, and we know that God can heal him, and as long as there’s breath in him, we’re gonna keep praying!”  Come to find out later, this nurse that cared for him that night had been at this hospital the longest and was considered the best nurse there- NOT a coincidence!!!  We were there the entire night and watched God perform miracle after miracle.  They sent us home the next morning around 6am.  And guess what?!  My dad had made it through that long night!  The next phone call I received from the doctor was promising.  He told me that my dad was a fighter, and since he made it through the night, he wanted to give him a fighting chance.  They had called Duke University (which happens to be one of the top hospitals) and were going to transfer him there for my dad to get the best care possible!  When they called Duke, there was only ONE BED available in the CCU- again, NOT a coincidence!  It was a breath of fresh air, and it brought so much peace to our hearts, and somehow, we knew that God was going to heal him.  I don’t have the time to share everything.  Each day brought its own challenges.  Some were a step forward, and other days it seemed he would take two steps backward.  But through it all, God was so faithful to us, and gave us the strength to make it through each challenge we faced.  After 68 days of being in the hospital, we were able to bring my dad home!!!  What a day of rejoicing, and what an AMAZING God we serve!!!

I’d like to share one last thought which will explain the title for this devotional.  My teenage daughter, Brianna, writes and composes gospel music.  She started at the age of 13 and is now 15 years old.  She has written of total of 35 songs now, and we’re so thrilled with how God is using her life!  My mom is a great woman of faith and a true prayer warrior.  When Brianna went to stay with her during her quarantine days, they had a conversation together.  She looked at Brianna and said to her, “Well, so far, God has protected my husband and brought him this far, and He’s also protected me from getting Covid, so I think I’ll just praise Him anyways!”

The hardest thing to do is to praise Him in our storms and valleys, but God INHABITS the PRAISE of His people.  When we begin to praise Him, we have complete AUDIENCE with Him.  It’s kinda like when we overhear someone talking good about us…we enjoy hearing good things said about us, and we listen intently to what they’re saying, right?  It’s the SAME way with the Lord.  God DELIGHTS in praise, and when we thank Him and praise Him, He begins to listen intently to what we’re asking of Him.  So, I challenge you ladies who may be in the midst of a storm right now, to start praising Him and thanking Him for everything you can think of, and God will begin giving you peace and strength! If God brings you to it, He will bring you through it!  And I promise you’ll come out on the other side with a greater faith and compassion for others!!!

Through the words my mom said to my daughter that day, Brianna wrote this song below entitled, “I Will Sing His Praise Anyways.”  God has used my dad’s testimony as well as this song to help encourage many, and my prayer is that God will get ALL the HONOR, GLORY and PRAISE for ALL HE’S DONE!!!  HE IS WORTHY!!!

Philippians 4:6-7

“Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with THANKSGIVING let your requests be made known unto God.  And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”