Welcome! We’ve created a Special Series for you this month! We’ll
take 4 weeks and focus on 4 elements to ‘Reset’ our lives for Him.
We’re calling it ’4×4 Reset’. If you missed the introduction, you
can find more details here. Each post will feature a READ IT
(scripture verse), a SEE IT (motivation), & a DO IT (challenge/
call to action). Our 4×4 Reset Toolbox is available and has links
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From Despair To Praise

The last month or so, my life has been a bit off. You too? I haven’t felt like myself. My mind has been focused on a hundred different things. Emotionally, I’ve been stressed, irritable, and distracted.

Recently, feeling overwhelmed by life and self-imposed pressures, I sat down with God’s Word. Just touching those thin, almost opaque and familiar pages, I felt peace begin to wash over me. When my emotions are intense, I always go to the Psalms. As Calvin once described it, the Psalms are an “anatomy of all the parts of the soul.” In it, I find my own heart reflected back at me. Not only do the writers of the Psalms express similar thoughts and feelings that I am struggling with, the structure of the Psalms guides my feelings where they need to go.

I turned to Psalms 147-150 and read the very words of my Heavenly Father. The theme of each of these Psalms is the same, praising God for who He is and what He has done. As I read, the Spirit gently tapped me on the heart, showing me that my life has not been one of praise.

With all the burdens on my heart, all the stress, concerns, and worry, I had not been living a life of praise. My heart was focused on me and my problems rather than on God. Yet the Spirit never leaves me alone in my sin and guilt. He shows me my sin and then always points me to my Savior. Reading these Psalms reminded me of where my strength lies. It reminded me that God is the Creator and sustainer of all things. He is my Provider and my source of peace. He alone is my rescuer and Savior.

I don’t have to live under a weight of overwhelming emotions and heavy burdens. Christ came to set me free from it all, bearing it all on the cross, out of His immense love, mercy, and grace. These passages reminded me that because of all God has done, my life is to be one of praise. I was created to love and glorify Him. When praise and thanksgiving is my priority, my joy and delight, everything else will fall into place. When Christ is my Center, everything else is on the periphery. When I fix my eyes on Him alone, I have all my heart desires.

Read it:

See it:

Do it: