{"id":11701,"date":"2020-01-06T04:55:27","date_gmt":"2020-01-06T10:55:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/?p=11701"},"modified":"2020-01-06T04:55:42","modified_gmt":"2020-01-06T10:55:42","slug":"offering-sacrifices-of-praise-is-sometimes-all-weve-got","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/?p=11701","title":{"rendered":"Offering Sacrifices of Praise is Sometimes All We\u2019ve Got"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A dear friend of mine, for over nine years has been relentless in the care of her sweet boy and his journey with Full Trisomy 13. I\u2019ve never seen anything like what this sweet boy has endured and neither have I seen a mother more devoted to her boy in meeting his daily needs, but is even more devoted in audacious faith, believing always for a miracle. I saw her post a few days ago, after going through a tremendously traumatic Christmas break with her young son. She was simply wishing she could have had time with her other two sons, but she couldn\u2019t. She was at the hospital with her youngest. She is brave and courageous beyond words, but deep inside warriors is that longing for normalcy. Yesterday, I read that she is still in the hospital with that precious little man. It was Epiphany Sunday and I prayed for God to reveal Himself strong to her. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Saying we\u2019re praying for her\/them, seems trite. The only words I could come up with during that Christmas time were to urge her, when it\u2019s too hard to praise, to offer a sacrifice of praise. These were the only words I could think of to offer her. They still seem meager to offer some consolation to her, but, what better words could I give her than from God\u2019s Word? I share them here today with you because there may be some of you who are also exhausted, spent, ready to throw in the towel and be done. But, DON\u2019T QUIT! Praise, even if it’s a sacrifice. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Precious, loving, devoted “L”. I pray for you today \u2013 you who are carrying such a heavy load \u2013 but also knowing you know our burden-removing Lord Who bears those burdens with you and for you. I pray you are able to cast your cares upon Him because He cares for you and your family so much. “K” is still in God’s hands though it may not seem like it. His life and yours are a shining example of true love, compassion, and devotion. I pray you find your voice of praise and thanksgiving — even though it may be a sacrifice to do so. Hebrews 13:15 says, ‘\u201cThrough Him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips that acknowledge His name.\u201d’<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A sacrifice is a gift to God declaring that He is worthy. It is also, by definition, difficult. A sacrifice hurts, it\u2019s costly, it takes effort\u2014and the ultimate sacrifice cost Jesus His life. And, for us, a sacrifice of praise won\u2019t always be easy, but difficult and costly. Because of Scripture, we know that we don\u2019t just confess God\u2019s name when it feels good, looks good, or benefits us in some way. We offer praise, as Hebrews 13:15 says, \u201ccontinually.\u201d This means without ceasing, in all circumstances. Like Paul said in I Thessalonians 5:18, \u201cGive thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And, as this verse says, we\u2019re able to do all this \u201cthrough Him.\u201d Through Jesus, we\u2019re able to see the great, great love of our great, great God Who holds everything in the palm of His hand and bends it to His will with a word. Through Jesus, our mediator, we\u2019re able to access the Father in order to give Him due praise (1 Timothy 2:5).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nehemiah says, \u201cThe joy of the Lord is our strength\u201d (8:10). Through praise we enjoy God. Imagine that! Praise focuses us on where our joy comes from and where our gaze should be, and the result is our strength! Whether through prayer, meditating on God\u2019s Word, thanksgiving, or praise, we can lift tired hands even when it\u2019s hard — especially when it\u2019s hard — and say, \u201cHoly, Holy, Holy, is the Lord!\u201d (Isaiah 6:3).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here’s what your devotion, love and suffering did for me today, dear “L”. You gave me a blog that will surely be posted and shared for others to learn from your beautiful life of love for your little angel boy!” ?\u2764\ufe0f?\u2764\ufe0f<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In my own experience, there were times when the last thing I wanted to do was praise God. In those times, the burden of offering such a sacrifice seemed impossible — and I know I wasn\u2019t alone in this. I know many who are in a fetal position right now from the weights they carry. Weariness has set in \u2013 and it seems tomorrow will never come. But, as I shared with my friend \u2013 when all else fails, when the night seems so, so long \u2013 we become \u201cpraisers\u201d \u2013 in the middle of it all. The middle can be a hard place to be \u2013 but joy comes in the morning. I pray morning breaks for my sweet friend and for you today. Let us offer sacrifices of praise because God is there soaking those praises in. Will you please join me in praying and praising with me for my sweet friend and her precious boy today?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A dear friend of mine, for over nine years has been relentless in the care of her sweet boy and his journey with Full Trisomy 13. I\u2019ve never seen anything like what this sweet boy has endured and neither have I seen a mother more devoted to her boy in meeting his daily needs, but…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11702,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[16058,16059,16057],"tags":[16061,16064,267,3141,16062,16068,39,16066,16067,4987,896,859,861,2363,16060,16065,16063],"class_list":["post-11701","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-praise","category-sacrifice","category-sacrifice-of-praise","tag-consolation","tag-continually","tag-faith","tag-gift","tag-hebrews-1315","tag-holy-is-the-lord","tag-hope","tag-in-all-circumstances","tag-isaiah-63","tag-joy-of-the-lord","tag-miracle","tag-praise","tag-sacrifice-of-praise","tag-strength","tag-trisomy-13","tag-without-ceasing","tag-worthy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11701","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11701"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11701\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11705,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11701\/revisions\/11705"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/11702"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11701"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11701"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11701"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}