Start Your Year in Praise – Part 2

Praising God – In all Situations!!!

One thing that is certain about life is that troubles and disputes are inevitable (Job 5:6-7) and we are living in very difficult times right now with economic failures, health epidemics, severe unemployment, political instability, terrorism and other levels of insecurity - riots, conflicts and uprisings, ethnic, communal and religious killings, etc.

Individuals, communities, nations and continents are affected all over the world and teenagers are not exempted. If teenagers are not direct victims (as child soldiers, rape victims, victims of assault, kidnapping, unemployment, sicknesses and diseases, poverty, truncated education, death), they have family and friends who have been victims. These are incidents with horribly unpleasant memories and pain but as believers, the Scriptures calls on us to praise God (1 Thessalonians 5:18) even in these times.

Perhaps, that is because the Almighty God desires that we overcome every adversity and the best strategy is a joyful attitude. You are not joyful and praising God for traumas and tragedies… you are joyful because you know that God is in control of every situation and He will pull you through whatever happens to you. Ultimately, those difficult times bring out the strength, resilience and creativity in you. Where the devil expected you to wallow in unending sorrow and misery, you get to triumph over those trials with a joyful disposition that puts the devil to shame.

Stella, a 16-year old young lady, needed money to pay for her examination into a tertiary institution that year. She was a very brilliant student and always made good grades in school. But her dad had just lost his job and her mom’s petty trading business was picking the family’s bills with little or nothing left after buying food and paying the bills. It was a difficult time. Stella put pressure on her parents, got angry, threw tantrums (with threats in between) but nothing changed – there was no money anywhere.

Stella became miserable and moody, a countenance that attracted the attention of her teacher in the Teens Church. With just a little persistence, Stella cried out her pain and frustration to her teacher. Her teacher gave her a short exhortation about hardship everywhere and how God promised to take care of us during such times. Then she asked Stella, “Are you ready to help your parents?” The young lady was a little confused and even wondered, “Help my parents? Are they not the ones to help me?” Unknown to Stella, her teacher ran a very successful restaurant in the locality, but she unconsciously stuttered, “How?” And that was how Stella went to work at the Restaurant on weekends to pay back the money that the teacher loaned her to pay for her examination and extra classes.

Instead of sitting back at home to play, eat and watch the television, Stella not only helped her parents by paying her examination fees but also acquired some knowledge of accounting at the Restaurant, a subject she later read for her first degree. Today, the family never ceases to praise God for that timely breakthrough.

What about you? How are you handling your trouble-times? Are you murmuring, complaining and wallowing in self-pity and misery? Heed the word of God and begin to praise Him. There is victory in praise!!!

Continues next week by the grace of God…