This month’s Praise is:
Hillsong’s “Faith + Hope + Love You are going to LOVE it!!!! It’s my current favorite!
You’ll also get some very yummy “Praise and Coffee” label coffee!!
PLUS, our good friends at Bayview Cards are giving you a beautifully handmade box of cards!
TO ENTER DRAWING: ~> Post a comment to THIS post after reading Denise’s post and tell her how much it touched your heart- I know it did mine!!! ~> Please make sure that I have a way to contact you-PLEASE! ~> If you have one of my “Praise and Coffee Giveaway” buttons on your blog, let me know and you will be entered twice. Here is a link to all my buttons: Blog Buttons
ALSO…you’re so blessed this first day of October!!!
A guest post from one of my favorite-est girlfriend’s Denise (click on picture to check out her blog!)
Where Are the Stars?
Our youngest, S4, has a fascination with stars. When we are out in the evening, he must search the sky for the first star. Once he finds it, he points excitedly, jumps up and down, shows it off to anyone near him as if we have never seen stars before and then breaks into song….
“Twinkle twinkle little star, how I wonder what you are……”
It’s the cutest thing ever.
The other night we, S4 and I, walked out to the shed where we keep the deep freezer stocked with ice cream. The sky was filled with stars and S4, who is very afraid of the dark, clung to my hand and sang. Anyone who was with him must sing as well.
When I went to bring the ice cream back that night, he didn’t want to go with me. It was just too dark. “But you sing the song, Moma”, he told me as I headed out.
I knew he would ask if I had indeed sang it when I got back in so I did sing it to myself, feeling pretty dorky, as I walked to and from the shed. And sure enough, he wanted to know if I had sung the song. I was glad I had.
When it’s a cloudy night, S4 will look for the stars and panic when he doesn’t see them. He is sure some sort of catastrophe has occurred and taken the stars. Without stars, what is the purpose of night?
I try to explain to him they are just beyond the clouds, just beyond what we can see. He is very skeptical. He searches the sky until he can, indeed, see the stars again and then, once more, we must sing the song.
So often when this happens I think of how that is in my Christian walk. When going through the dark times, I am scared. God is the light that gets me through. He sends me a million trillion reminders of His love. “His banner over me is love” is the song that runs through my head. He is there and while it is dark, it’s in the dark I see the beauty.
But there are times when I can’t see God in the midst of my dark time. I can only see darkness everywhere, every dark shadow and crevice is something to take me down and out for good. I don’t want to be out in the night, I don’t want to walk from point A to point B. I know God is there, but I can’t see Him. And it is difficult in that time to praise Him, to trust Him, to see the beauty in the darkness.
God always brings the morning, whether they are filled with sunshine or storms. There is always the sun. God always brings the night, whether they are star filled or dark. But God is always in control, always there, and I am reminded of that when ever I have to again remind my little boy that the stars are indeed there…that morning will indeed come… How often don’t I need God to remind me the same way? “The dark night will pass, I am faithful and true.” And it’s these reminders, these little stars, if you will, that get me jumping up and down, praising God for His faithfulness.
