The End of Praise??? I Don't Think So!!!

So, 31 Days ago I started the devotional "31 Days of Praise" by Ruth Myers. I was doing this with a group of women in my on-line Bible Study group. I started off the month wanting to blog every single day about what I had read that day and how the Lord was talking to me through my daily readings... Well, it didn't take life long to get in the way of posting on here every day. (well that and a touch of writers block from time to time!)

I decided a couple weeks ago that at the end of the month I would make a whole month re-cap. As I was looking back through my exciting, hard, broken, healing, touching, life-changing month I decided that I would actually type out what I had highlighted with my yellow marker every day! I would like to point out that the next time I go through this book I plan on using a different color highlighter because the next time I will probably want to mark completely different sections!

Most of the whole book is snippets from Bible verses that are referenced at the end of every day. If there was a whole verse I highlighted there will be a reference, but if it was part of the paragraph I won't be listing all of the references! I'm not quite sure how this will all read, but I'm looking forward to reading what touched my heart every single day! Some days I highlighted whole paragraphs, some days only one or two lines! Let's get started - my month of praise in review!

1. You are my strong shelter in times of trouble and danger and stress. You delight to give me the desires of my heart as I delight myself in You. I sing for joy as I take refuge in the shadow of Your wings! He who dwells in the shelter of the most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say to the Lord, "My refuge and my fortress, My God, in whom I trust!" (Psalm 91:1-2)
2. Thank You, Father, that You so loved the world that You gave Your one and only Son, our Lord Jesus Christ...
3. You strengthen my heart so that more and more I honor Christ by the way I live.
4. And how much I praise You that it was impossible for death to hold Him in its power... that You raised Him from the dead to be my Savior, to make me righteous in Your sight...that You highly exalted Him, giving Him a position infinitely superior to any conceivable command, authority, power, or control, both natural and supernatural. Worth is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing. And God raised Him up again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for Him to be held in its power. (Acts 2:24)
5. I praise You for Your sovereignty over the broad events of my life and over the details. With You, nothing is accidental, nothing is incidental, and no experience is wasted. You hold in Your own power my breath of life and all my destiny. And every trial that You allow to happen is a platform on which You reveal Yourself, showing Your love and power, both to me and to others looking on. There is none like Thee, O Lord; Thou art great, and great is Thy name in might. (Jeremiah 10:6)
6. I magnify You, my God, for Your absolute purity, holiness, and justice, as the Judge to whom all people must give account, I praise You that Your fairness is intertwined with everything You do... that when the time is ripe You will end all sin and injustice, all corruption, all immorality... that You will right all wrongs and reward all loving service and suffering for Your sake.
7. Thank You that in Your Word I can see Your face and hear Your voice. I can discover your will and Your patterns for living and serving. I can develop deeper faith and confidence. Thank You that the Holy Spirit inspired Your Word and uses it to enlighten and guide me, and to change me more and more into your image, from one degree of glory to another. All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work. (2 Timothy 3:16-17)
8. I thank You for Your loving wisdom in allowing the things that have influenced me throughout my life. For Thou didst form my inward parts; Thou didst weave me in my mother's womb. I will give thanks to Thee, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Thy works, And my soul knows it very well. (Psalm 139:13-14)
9. Not to me, O Lord, not to me, but to Your name be the glory.
10. What a comfort it is to know that You understand the feeling of my weaknesses!
11. I praise You that the things that happened in my past, both enjoyable and painful, are raw materials for blessings, both in my life and in the lives of others. So I thank You for the specific family (or lack of family) into which I was born and the opportunities You did or did not provide. And thank You for the things in my past that appear to be limitations, hindrances, bad breaks...the wounds of old hurts, the unmet emotional needs, the mistakes or neglect of other people - even their cruelty to me, their abuse. Surely our griefs He Himself bore, And our sorrows He carried... (Isaiah 53:4)
12. I'm so thankful that You don't hold a pair of scales and ask me to pile up enough good works to outweigh my sins, my failures, my unworthiness...that it's all by grace through faith.
13. How great is Your love toward me, Father, that I should be called Your child; and such I am. How amazing that I am precious in Your eyes, and that You love me!
14. Father, I'm so glad that the Holy Spirit is within me, to strengthen me with power in my inner person... with confidence and joy I can look forward to actually becoming all that You have in mind for me to be.
15. Thank You that You are at work in me and in my situation to break old patterns of thought and action, to create within me both the desire and the power to do Your gracious will...and to make me a joy to You in new ways.
16. The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God... (Romans 8:16)
17. Thank You that You have me in the place You want me just now...that even if I got here through wrong choices or indifference or even rebellion, yet You knew my mistakes and sins before I ever existed, and You worked them into Your plan to draw me to Yourself, to mold and bless others through me. Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways! (Romans 11:33) So I rest in the fact that You have me in this place for this day, and I praise You that You will faithfully guide me throughout life to just where You want me to be, as I seek to do your will.
18. Thank You that You use trials to humble me and perfect my faith and produce in me the quality of endurance...that they prepare the soil of my heart for the fresh new growth in godliness that You and I both long to see in me...and that my momentary troubles are producing for me an eternal glory that far outweighs them all, as I keep my eyes focused on You. "I thank You for the bitter things, They've been a friend to grace, They've driven me from the paths of ease, To storm the secret place." -Florence White Willett.
19. At times they misunderstand, they disappoint, they expect too much, or they can't be available when I need them. "I thank You for the friends who've failed to meet my soul's deep need; they've driven me to the Savior's feet upon His love to feel. I'm grateful too, through all life's way no one could satisfy, And so I've found in You alone, My rich, my full supply!" -Florence White Willett. We love because He first loved us. (1 John 4:19)
20. Father, I thank You for the people in my life who seem to bring more pain than joy, for I believe You have let our paths cross for important reasons. Thank You for the good things you want to do in my life through the things that bother me (their irritation habits? their moodiness? their unloving ways? their demands? their insensitivity? their unrealistic expectations?). I'm grateful that You are with me, to meet my needs when others - even those close to me - fail to do so. And I praise You that I need not fret about these people, or be envious, or mull over angry thoughts to prove I'm right. ...that I can choose not to judge them, but to forgive them...to cancel any debts I feel they owe me - any debts I feel they owe me - any apologies, any obligations...that through Your grace, I can choose to wipe clean any slate of grievances I have within me, and to view these people with a heart that says, "You no longer owe me a thing."
21. Thank You for bringing us together, and for the way Your love sweetens our earthly love! I bless You, Lord, for the many benefits You have given me through this dear one.
22. To sum up, let all be harmonious, sympathetic, brotherly, kindhearted, and humble in spirit; not returning evil for evil, or insult for insult, but giving a blessing instead... (1 Peter 3:8-9)
23. Thank You that these trials force me to trust You more! And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28)
24. When my heart I overwhelmed, I'm more aware of my need to cry to You...to take refuge in You...to rely on You. Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. (Proverbs 3:5)
25. You know the way I'm put together; You know my limitations; You understand that I am dust. And I praise You that You are greater than any or all of my failures...that as my Potter You are able to mold and remold me, as I submit to Your wisdom and skill...that as the Master Artist You are able to take the dark threads of my life - my wounds, my scars, my blotches, the messes I make, and even my sins - and blend them into a beautiful design, to the praise of the glory of Your grace.
26. He who is in me is greater than he who is in the world...that although Satan in powerful, he cannot prevail against the blood of the Lamb and the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
27. He who offers a sacrifice of thanksgiving honors Me... (Psalm 50:23)
28. What a joy to know that I can draw near to You at any moment, wherever I may be...that I can come boldly to your throne of grace, assured of Your glad welcome - not because I'm worthy or because I've served You, but because You're a God of grace, a God of unmerited, unlimited favor - not little dribbles of favor reluctantly measured out, but overflowing, super-abundant favor.
29. Thank You that Christ is my Life...that I am a member of His body and a dwelling place of His Spirit. Thank You that I can throw the whole weight of my anxieties on You, for I am Your personal concern.
30. You yearn for all people everywhere to repent; You have no desire that any person should spend eternity without You!
31. I glorify You because no human problem, however hopeless or impossible, is too hard for You. You are able to give life to the dead and call into being that which does not exist. So I need not stagger at Your promises or waver in unbelief. What You have promised You are able to perform! Blessed be the Lord...according to all that He promised; not one word has failed for all His good promise... (1 Kings 8:56)

WOW! What a month!
Peace and Love to All!!