Plant Your Praise

Psalm 103:21-22
21 Praise the LORD, all his heavenly hosts,
you his servants who do his will.
22 Praise the LORD, all his works
everywhere in his dominion.

Praise the LORD, my soul.

This holiday I sang Hark the Herold Angels Sing on Christmas Eve at a service at my church. When I walked into the sanctuary I had this overwhelming feeling of darkness surround me. I know the lights were dim and the candles were lit but lately I've been feeling overwhelmed with darkness quite a bit and I really need to get into the presence of God through worship. It's amazing how overwhelmed I can get sometimes and when I get overwhelmed sometimes I forget to stop and smell the roses. Sometimes I forget to count my blessings and thank God for the wonderful things I do have.
I'm not proud to say that today was a bit emotional for me. I'm growing and maturing and sometimes when we grow we get growing pains. You ever feel like spreading your wings but your cage is too small? So I have to learn to be patient and wait on God until the environment I'm in allows me to spread my wings to soar. However, I'm continuing to praise Him I'm continuing to honor Him. I am continuing to just keep moving forward until the time comes when I am able to not only soar with my God given "mature" wings but I am also able to use my spiritual gifts to their fullest capacity. The bible says that when we are children we think like children but when we are older we put away childish things. I'm realizing I've been holding onto a lot of childish things lately. Even if it's the hurt that I've been holding onto my whole life or maybe insecurities. God wants me to grow in Him, He's calling me out of those childish things. He wants me to continue to praise Him but not as a child anymore. He wants me to praise Him with a mature heart. A heart that is firmly planted in the word (truth) and spiritually rooted in His unconditional love. When I stretch my branches toward the Son I worship Him wholeheartedly not with the faith of a child who is sheltered but with the faith of an adult who has gone through some major storms but is still able to hold strong and worship Him. That's worth praising for wouldn't you think?

Matthew 22:27
Jesus replied, "'You must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.'