I will praise the Lord at all times.
I will constantly speak his praises.
I will boast only in the Lord;
let all who are discouraged take heart.
Come, let us tell of the Lord's greatness;
let us exalt his name together.
I prayed to the Lord, and he answered me,
freeing me from all my fears.

Psalm 34:1-4

When my autistic daughter was facing a very serious major surgery on her middle ear to remove a Cholesteatoma. (non-cancerous tumor) I was so overcome by fear I couldn't concentrate on Bible reading and prayer. I had been reading the Bible and praying and kept a journal up to that time. However, what I found that helped me more than anything was Praise Music. I had it playing a lot. When I couldn't pray, God would speak to me and it was as if he wrapped me in a blanket of love as I recalled the words to the praise songs or just listened to them.

There had been so much prayer for my daughter that I actually believed she was healed. When she went for her pre-surgical visit to the doctor I asked the doctor to look at her ear again with the microscoptic otoscope in which he had discovered the problem in the first place. He refused. He said the cat-scan didn't lie. He was suggesting a very aggresive 5 hour surgery. I got a second opinion. The doctor we went to finally looked at the ct scan and proposed a less aggressive surgery, but saying that if the cholesteatoma were there, he would remove it. It was there. It was intertwined around the tiny bones in her ears. He operated, the surgery took 3 hours and not 5, and she had absolutely no complications. Ironically, she is now seeing the first doctor for followup every three months and the growth has never returned.

The day of the surgery, I took a walkman with me with praise music cassettes and went out in a garden area of the hospital and sat on a bench and listened to the music.

What about depression? One of the causes of depression is hopelessness. If we think our battle will soon be over or the dental procedure has an end we can endure it. However, if there seems to be no end and no promise of an end most of us tend to get depressed. Another problem is helplessness. We may feel we have no power to change anything. That is how I get sometimes. The fact that we know who we are in Christ is important as we can learn to abide in Him. However, many times we are still stuck! What is the answer? PRAISE!!! Does God need our praise? No. Is he worthy of praise? Absolutely. However, there is something about Praising God that gets us out of ourselves and even out of our prison of time as we allow the Holy Spirit to take us into His realm. Here is an old song that I think might help. Feeling sorry for yourself? I was the last couple of days. Overcome with fear? Try praising God!!!

Judy

Praise The Lord

When you're up against a struggle
That shatters all your dreams
And your hope has been cruelly crushed
By Satan's manifesting scheme
And you feel the urge within you
To submit to earthly fears
Don't let the faith you're standing in, seem to disappear

(Chorus)

Praise the Lord
He can work with those who praise Him ,
Praise the Lord
For our God inhabits praise,
Praise the Lord
For the chains that seem to bind you
Serve only to remind you that they drop powerless behind you
When you praise him

Now satan is a liar
And he wants to make us think
That we are paupers
When he knows himself
We're children of the King
So lift up the mighty shield of faith
For the battle has been won
We know that Jesus Christ has risen
So the work's already done

(Repeat Chorus)

ŠImperials' album HEED THE CALL released on Dayspring (Word) 1979
Words and Music by Brown Bannister and Mike Hudson