Choose to Praise

Kendra’s father was one of her best friends. They often worked side by side—putting up Christmas lights, planting flowers in the garden, puttering in the basement.

When Dad suffered a stroke at age fifty-seven, Kendra was shocked. He’d always been in such good health. Now, confined to a hospital bed, struggling to remember familiar names and complete the simplest of tasks, he seemed so frail and weak. Kendra’s heart broke to see him this way.

She felt herself slipping into a deep depression, until something her mother said changed everything: “I don’t understand why this had to happen,” Mom said through tears. “I certainly don’t have any answers. But each morning when I wake up, I know I have a choice. Instead of asking myself why, I choose to praise.” Choose to praise.

It’s simple, yet profound. Praising God when life is going our way comes naturally. We are thankful, joyful, obedient—God has blessed us!

We can choose to accept defeat, becoming bitter and miserable; or we can entrust ourselves to the One who knows best, who loves us the very most. We can choose to praise Him.

Praising God doesn’t change our circumstances, but it does change our hearts. And that changes everything.