PUT ON GARMENTS OF PRAISE - by Todd Benjamin Lout

Sadness, heaviness, depression...these are all too common for so many today. The causes are many many, from societal pressures, to trying to make marriage work in today's atmosphere, from financial bindings to living in regret and so on.  There is NO SHAME to be had for experiencing sadness.  In fact, the shame so many feel over this is another lie! But God, knowing we are in human bodies in human conditions with human emotions, is kind and loving. He offers us a way to ultimately replace sadness, by praising!  Does this mean He's egotistic and refuses to help us until we tell Him how great He is? Not at all!   God created us in His image. We have some heaven in our DNA.  There, (in heaven), the atmosphere is completely flooded with praise.  One enormous component of praise is thanksgiving. God  knows that when we turn our focus on things that are blessings, things God has done, and generally His goodness, that the things we're sad about seemingly shrink. The sting of depression is not so effective anymore.  This is how God has set things up because in Heaven it just IS and always was!  Our Father tells us that He will wrap us in victory, gladness and praise to replace depression and hopelessness.  This is in Isa. 61:3 (the Voice).  Here's the key, we need to open our arms to have this garment placed on us.  Even in the sadness we can allow faith to open our arms enough to be clothed.  This is us making up our mind to shift focus to what is praiseworthy.   We can do this!  God knows best and He has given us free will and we can do this. YOU can do this!  This week, whenever those sad feelings try to settle in, turn your eyes upon Jesus. He's got the answer. He IS the answer.