I have never felt a pain so great, so much agony, and such an opposition from a homeowners insurance that doesn’t want to pay claims for damage that was undoubtedly not caused by me. But amid this pain, I experienced God’s peace, and help. God has shown me His faithfulness and goodness, and He has poured out His love upon me in ways I have never experienced before.Although human help failed me greatly, I discovered that God is always faithful, even when He is not faithful in the ways that I might want Him to be!
The Bible tells us God is close to the brokenhearted and He rescues those whose spirits are crushed—and it’s true! (See Psalm 34:18).
Even admist all of the chaos and pain, I felt the Lord telling me I needed to keep worshipping Him through this season, no matter how hard it was. So, out of obedience to the Lord, I chose to lead worship as I always do for our weekly service, and it was powerful. I have continued to worship through this season, and it has helped me to keep my eyes fixed upon the Author and Finisher of my Faith.
I continued to pray and worship God through all of the pain, grief and turmoil that I was felt. I wish I could say that I experienced a lot of support, people coming to my rescue to help, and an abundance of finances rolling in as I suffered, felt pain and went through lack. But I experienced none of that. I experienced silence, no support, discouragement, and doubt. I wondered if my prayers and worship was even making a difference.
I am happy to report that after a lot of pain, suffering and turmoil, the homeowner’s insurance company that I had been fighting with that did not want to pay the property claims damages, eventually did pay, but the process was long, hard, difficult, and exhausting to go through because of the homeowner’s excessive demands before they would pay. I discovered that all of the prayers that I prayed for the homeowner’s insurance to pay my claims really did help push the claims through, it just took a lot longer than I had wanted and the process was a lot more painful than I ever thought anyone should ever have had to go through!
I discovered that God really had been working while I was waiting and He had been working in ways that I could not see when I did finally get the insurance claims check for the hurricane damage that I incurred. I believed that prayer and worship to God even when I didn’t see anything change or I didn’t get anything that changes things really helped make the difference in my circumstances! When no visible human help surfaced, I learned to worship through it, keep praying and lean on God. Each time I did this, God comforted me and gave me strength!
When Paul and Silas were beaten and imprisoned, they too chose to look to the Lord and worship Him right in their jail cell. The worship that came forth from that place was so powerful that it shook the prison, the doors were opened, and the chains of every prisoner fell off.
Around midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening. Suddenly, there was a massive earthquake, and the prison was shaken to its foundations. All the doors immediately flew open, and the chains of every prisoner fell off! (Acts 16:25-26 NLT)
When Paul and Silas worshipped the Lord amid their difficulty, it radically changed the atmosphere around them, set them free, and opened the door for them to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with the jailer and his entire household. That’s amazing!
It is not easy to worship the Lord during seasons of difficulty when you have more questions than answers, but the truth is that no matter what you are facing, God is always good. He is always loving, and He is always faithful. When we lay aside our unanswered questions and choose to look to the One who has all the answers and worship Him despite how we feel, or what we are facing, He changes the atmosphere around us. He shakes those things with faulty foundations in our lives, sets us free, and opens doors that were previously inaccessible to us.
I don’t know what you are facing right here at this moment, but I know Who does. Look to Him and keep your eyes fixed; He will give you His peace. (See Isaiah 26:3.) Choose to worship through your season in the valley, and watch God show up in ways you never thought possible. He is closer than the air you breathe, and He won’t leave you alone in the valley. Trust Him to come through for you.
Father God, You are awesome. There is nothing that is difficult for You and nothing is impossible with You. Lord, for those who have so many questions running through their minds, be their peace. For those who are hurt and broken, be their Healer. Comfort them as only You can. Give them the strength they need to worship You through the valley and help them to lean on You and keep their eyes fixed upon You. We praise Your holy name because You are worthy of our praise. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
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Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
