While I was getting ready this morning, a disturbing thought ran through my mind: Would I still serve and praise the Lord if He decided to take my little girl home.  Tears rolled down my face as I even pondered this reality, but the question was still valid.  Unconditional and unwavering faith means in all things, I will trust God completely and praise Him no matter what happens.  While I don’t believe this is His plan during this trial, I really had to answer this question in my mind.  In all things, we are to praise the Lord, but the very thought of losing my little princess breaks my heart.

Sydney is almost 2 weeks old and while these have been some of the happiest days of our life, they have also been some of the saddest.  The waves of emotions have taken us to the highest mountain tops and to some of the lowest valleys.  I can only imagine the pain God felt as He watched His Son be sacrificed for our sins.  When I think of sacrificial praise, I believe it means that it must cost us something.  It means even when we are hurting and in despair, we must praise the Lord.  As our praise is lifted up despite our hurt feelings and pain, it becomes faith in action.  When we praise God, even in our times of despair, we release His omnipotent power.  When we can praise Him regardless of what we are walking through, we will see His goodness and know that His love endures forever.  Our praise is a weapon and when we can praise God, even in our trials, we will begin to understand what sacrificial praise is.  It’s easy to praise God when everything is going great, but the true test of faith comes when we can praise Him regardless of our circumstances.  II Corinthians 1:3 says, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.”  I know that is what God is up to and I know that as I praise Him, He will come alongside me to comfort me, so that I can in turn comfort others.