Shout for joy to God, all the earth!  Sing the glory of His name; make His praise glorious!  Say to God, “How awesome are Your deeds!”     (Psalm 66:1-3)
 
Today’s blog post includes three wonderful and encouraging praise reports.  It is refreshing to reflect on the great things the Lord has done in answer to prayer and to praise and thank Him, even in the midst of needs and concerns that remain.
 
The praises:
 
A blog reader wrote me last week about how God had healed her depression.  “Depression had tagged along with me for most of my life,” she wrote.  One day a year or so ago, she told the Lord that she was through with the negative, crushing thoughts that flooded her mind.  From then on, daily, she took every thought captive       (2 Corinthians 10:5), rejecting those that were unkind or useless.  After several months of this spiritual discipline, she realized with wonder that her depression was gone.  “Depression is no longer a part of my life,” she wrote.  “It is often at my door, desiring admittance, but I simply do not answer its knock.”  I pray that her story will bring hope to someone now trapped in the cage of depression.
 
A member of the Chinese congregation wrote with a praise report about their evangelistic Chinese New Yearevent.  Over 200 adults plus about 45 children and youth attended – many more than the planners had expected.  Five people responded to Pastor Grant Chen’s invitation to accept Christ, and one has already been baptized.  Several more expressed interest in knowing more about Jesus.  The Chinese congregation thanks you for your prayers for this event, of which the Lord was clearly the Master. Referring to the English congregation, my correspondent wrote, “You are part of us and we are part of you; it is God’s love that bonds us together.”
 
Pastor Tomasz Chylka and his church hold outreach meetings in schools in their town of Pszczyna, Poland, and have desired to expand that effort to the town of Pruchna, where the gospel has not been preached.  It is not always easy, however, to obtain permission to hold Christian meetings in schools.  On the day Tomasz visited the school to make his application, the director and the vice director happened to be absent.  He was directed to the school’s psychologist instead.  Tomasz reports that, as he spoke, she “smiled more and more” and then agreed to help secure permission for the Good News Club.  When Tomasz thanked her and asked why she agreed to help, she said that she had become a Christian a few years ago and thought that she and her husband were the only believers in the town.  Tomasz writes, “When God opens the door, no one can close it.”
 
What is God asking you to do this week?  Are you feeling like you don’t have what it takes?  Ask Him to help you do what He told Gideon to do:  Go in the strength you have.  (Judges 6:14)

In Christ,
Carol Gilbert, Prayer Chair
Calvary Community Church of Brea