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Ashley Willis

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Family, Parenting and Religion
Worship–Even When it Hurts

Worship–Even When it Hurts

Last updated on: August 23, 2017 at 7:34 am by Ashley Willis

Worship–Even When it Hurts 2017-08-23T07:34:32-04:00 Ashley Willis

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GUEST POST by Brittany Price Brooker

It is easy to declare “God is good” when you are on the mountaintop of life, however, when you are in life’s deepest valley, is it as easy to “taste and see that He is good?”

Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him. Psalm 34:8

Every single one of us will experience loss in our life, it is unavoidable. When we suffer loss of a loved one, find ourselves jobless, our dreams shattered by uncontrollable circumstances or other hardships, this is our opportunity to worship through the loss.

On September 29, 2015, my wonderful husband and father of my three baby boys, tragically and unexpectedly died, which instantly made me a 25 year old widow. We loved Jesus, were serving Him and testifying of His goodness as a family, when all of a sudden I entered the greatest loss I could have imagined! Literally, in an instant, every second of my day changed, taking the breath right out of me, and causing me to turn to the very giver of life for the strength to continue.

I remember after my husband went to be with the Lord, God brought to light what a sacrifice of praise truly meant for me. It meant no matter what my circumstances, I had to choose to offer praise to the Lord based on who He was and who He has always been and not on my feelings and thoughts. It is not automatic, it is a conscious choice to offer and yield to Christ our worship even through excruciating pain. As I was sitting in church all alone with tears rolling down my face, the Lord whispered “offer me a sacrifice of praise even when it hurts” and I lifted my hands in surrender not because my circumstances were good but because Christ was, is, and always will be there for me. Our circumstances change, our seasons change, but the Lord never changes… His promises stand true, His word remains unchanged, and the joy He gives is abiding.

Worship is an act of the heart, a lifestyle of surrender to the Savior who deserves all our praise whether it is through weeping or rejoicing, all He wants is our yielded lives. Worship is more than music or lyrics to songs it is a state of our heart and mind… a lyric of our lives fully surrendered. Christ alone can be our Hope, He alone can be our joy in the midst of loss and He alone remains when all around us seems to be failing and falling apart. No matter the pain there is always praise that we can offer to Christ “for His steadfast love never changes and His mercies never come to an end (Lamentations 3:22.)’

If your world has turned upside down, you have an opportunity to worship the Lord through it and to yield the unknown of your life to an all knowing Savior. Our omniscient Father holds all time in His hand, our past, present, and future. We have the choice to embrace the suffering, claim His promises, and give Him the glory and honor due to His name even when we can’t see thru the fog and and the burning in our heart makes it almost unbearable to move forward. God honors our baby steps of faith and shifts our perspective from our pain to His almighty purpose. Worshiping Christ is not contingent on our hardships but on our hearts. God desires our worship, even when we are bruised, weary, and hurting. Let us offer Him a sacrifice of praise even through the seasons of loss.

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About the Author:
Brittany is a believer in Jesus Christ with the desire to know Him more and make Him known, by sharing His truth with others. She became a widow at 25 with 3 boys under 3. She is a singer/songwriter with The Elm music along with a speaker and writer in which she shares the journey God has called her family through in suffering and share God’s faithfulness. Her desire is to use her pain for Christ’s mighty purpose. Brittany recently married a widower, Daniel with two small children and lives in Atlanta with her new Brooker Bunch.

BrittanyPrice.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brittanypricebrooker/
Facebook: Brittany Price Brooker

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