The Well

PRAISE IN PLANNING

Being in a motel room without baby furniture and toys everywhere gave me a deeper sense of peace than I thought it would. Clutter is annoying to me. This reminded me of something I wrote on October 24, 1998, and God wanted to remind me of it. I said then, "God is in the process of cleaning house. He wants our homes filled with good things and He wants us to be comfortable. Yet, it takes planning. Can you imagine building or remodeling a house without first sitting down and planning? We know this would be absurd. Yet, many of us spend our days without plans, just doing what feels right in the moment. This is not the will of God in Christ Jesus for us. He wants us to build our spiritual house with good planning through prayer."

When our Board Members met for a planning session on August 5, we were one in Spirit as we planned what activities we would be participating in over the next year. We discussed the importance of priorities in our lives if we were going to be successful at completing the work the Lord has called us to do. Yet, the words from a Bob Carlisle song ring in my ear: "We fall down, and we get up. We fall down, and we get up." Proverbs 24:15-16 reminds us, "Do not lie in wait like an outlaw at the home of the godly. And don't raid the house where the godly live. They may trip seven times, but each time they will rise again. But one calamity is enough to lay the wicked low."

Back in October of 1998, Robin, the mother of the baby we are caring for, came to stay with us. I embraced her with grace, love, and mercy. However, she consistently belittled me and went about doing things contrary to the way we do things. She ate anything she wanted from our kitchen - anytime she wanted to with no thought for the rest of us. Then, she left one night saying she would call, but she didn't until the next day. Then, we heard nothing from her until she was ready to come back. We asked her to leave.

Now, here we are caring for her baby while she continues to be in denial about her addiction to crack cocaine and our house is in disarray with baby stuff everywhere. Yet, God has used this to teach me many lessons, too many to share in one writing. However, one thing stands out, as Christians we may fall, our house may get in disarray, our plans may fail from time to time, but we will get back up and praise the Lord again; this is the heart of worship.

We are strengthened through the power of the God of resurrection when we praise Him. If Jesus Christ died and rose again on the third day, we can rise up from our difficult situations through the power of praise He provides us. We may indeed fall down, but we will get up through prayer and praise!