"The Holy Spirit reminded me that only good and perfect things come from God."
In the past few weeks, I have been through a lot. I have questioned the call I believe God has on my life, and I have lost someone very dear to me.
At the beginning of the year, I offered to serve on the youth committee of the church I am attending. Being extremely passionate about young people, I was happy to get involved since I also believe that they are the treasure within any church community. This is a Godly passion and forma only a tiny part of the broader purpose for my life.
However, it seemed I had failed to anticipate the amount of pressure I would be under due to excel in my schoolwork with an added commitment. The result has been that sacrificing one for the other has been happening quite regularly. So I find my schoolwork often triumphing over my youth commitment. During the past few weeks, I have been questioning God on whether it would not be better for me to withdraw my services offered at church in order to concentrate more on schoolwork. My ears have been deaf to His counsel, and as a result it has left me frustrated.
While I still do not have an answer to this question, a wise friend reminded me that God will direct our steps, and as we heed to His counsel, everything will work out for the good. Then tragedy struck - I lost a family member. She was young, beautiful and successful. I doubted my ability and faith to withstand the grief and heartache. The pain and loss I was feeling seemed to emerge from somewhere deep within, and it submerged my whole being.
When Christ ascended into Heaven, He left the Holy Spirit us. To me He is a personal friend and counsellor. The Holy Spirit reminded me that only good and perfect things come from God, and He only has good thoughts in mind for us. He reminded me that this also applied to the family member I had lost. He helped me restore my faith.
In the midst of all this, a single line from a Hillsong tune rang in my head: "...the art of losing myself in bringing you praise..."
Although I did not understand everything that was going on in my life, I knew one thing that was certain - I knew that God's Word remained true and alive. In all this the praise due to God remained. Praising God in the midst of misery and confusion does not come easy but the song lyrics say losing myself in praise to God is an art. An artist has a gift to produce art and the art to lose ourselves in giving God praise applies to all people. The more I thought about it the more I believed that praising God in the midst of my life was possible: I am able to praise my Dad from the inside out...
