Turning Our Worry into Worship

These past few weeks have been so crazy...from walking into the Dr's thinking we were dealing with one thingand leaving with another....the more this thing unravels, the more we see God working. And I think the hardest part of this, outside of trusting God to hold us no matter what, has been waiting for all of the results. In fact today I really felt the weight of it all as I was ready to post my blog only to realize I had lost the whole thing and had to start over...and then to be told by Dr's that we'd have to wait another day to hear any news...I felt it mostly in my stomach as it was all twisted up in knots so I did what I knew and talked to God about it all and told him I was at my wit's end and needed his peace to flood me and for him to give me the patience to wait another day. It's been two weeks for this one biopsy and I'd reached the end of what I felt I had, but God washed over me and flooded me with his peace and my insides began to settle down and rest when my phone rang...it was Joe. This time he brought the news we've been praying for. Although he has a very rare form of Lymphoma his cancer has not spread. The Drs are shocked and we are worshiping God.....Do you know that story about Paul and Silas singing in the prison cell?Well, I've been thinking a lot about them lately.I once thought they must have been so much stronger than me to respond like that in a prison cell.And yet as we're facing our own kind of difficulty, the deepest part of my soul gently resonates with their response.Because as I've been meditating on their story, I've been uncovering what might have caused their hearts to pray and sing that night.You see when darkness hovers over our lives and anxiety tries to steal our joy, when brokenness seems to surround us there's something we must hold onto.Paul and Silas knew there was ONE that could loosen all the prisoner's chains and they knew that same ONE could empty prison cells.Friends, our fears get quieted when we lift them to the heavens and hold them up to God.I never quite understood the power that came in worship until the last few weeks.I've experienced it's blessing and even held onto it in both the hard and holy days, but walking through these difficult days lately -worship has found a new ministry in my life.One I truly believe is what led to Paul and Silas singing that cold dark night.You see when we raise our hallelujahs fear has no place in us because we can't worship and worry at the same time. Because as we worship God our worries get carried to heaven's throne where God receives and massages our hurting hearts.And as people gather alongside us they also lift their praises to God beckoning for his mercy and grace.It's so easy to become discouraged and worry when life hits a hard moment, it can cause us to lose our way at times. ....because it's not always easy to remember how God's goodness has followed us all these years and walking into unknown territories can be hard.But when we choose to stand in God's love and leave our fear behind we find there's a whole lot of people fighting their own brave battles-worshiping right beside us.And I believe this is what Paul and Silas knew as they chose to pray and sing in the middle of the night. They knew their suffering was just another opportunity for them to lead others into worship...to see God work.That night as they sang with the prisoners listening something crazy happened...God showed up.And as they worshiped every prisoners chains were loosened and they were all set free...because when we sing a spontaneous song from our story others get moved as they see God move.  They hear as God whispers every so gently to us...'I see you, child and I'm the One who carried you here and I'll be the One who carries you through this.'I think we walk through these things because God wants to gather broken souls and he wants us to know he is the ONE we need. As we've been turning our worry into worship God has been ministering to our souls and I am learning a new rhythm of grace. Because we can either spend our whole lives chasing worry or we can step into the presence of God where our fear gets taken by God. Because when we exchange our worries for worship we choose to call upon the heavens to fight our battles for us. And this friend is where God works the mightiest of his work. This friends is where I've been standing with hands lifted high before God...And if you're looking for me-meet me at the feet of God worshiping his holy name...