Praising with Tambourines!


That's my tambourine! I love it.  It's a symbol of hope and expectancy. It's hard to admit it but I woke up feeling sorry for myself.  I'm tired of struggling in life: finances, parenting alone, not sharing life with a partner. Some days I just allow myself to struggle.  I got out of bed and the first thing I did was to get on my knees and fall on my face before God.  I told Him that I don't want my life to be hard any more. I asked for some relief. I've struggled off and on all day.  Some days are just worse than others. I saw a family in an RV taking a summer camping trip and it made me wish I had an intact family with 2.5 kids, a husband and wife, and summer vacation plans. What would it be like to be a "normal" family again? I don't even know.  I know, I know.  We are still a family.  But it's different. Anyway, my day of struggle reminded me of my tambourine.  I got it for my birthday. I had bought one for one of my closest friends on her birthday a month before. We've both been in a desert season for 10 years. We've walked through many things together.  A few months back, we were listening to a sermon that spoke to our hearts. It was about Miriam and how she praised God with her tambourine when He parted the Red Sea and allowed the Israelites to walk through on dry ground. But the thing that struck us so much was that she packed the tambourine with her belongings BEFORE she left with the Israelites on their Exodus out of Egypt.  Why? She knew there was praising to be done in the future and she'd need her tambourine! I wanted a tambourine after that. So my friend and I bought one for each other! We are expecting to be praising God when we are delivered from the desert into the Promised Land. We've even shaken our tambourines and offered Him praise ahead of time for the things He's GOING to do in the future because we know He's going to act on our behalf. That's just the kind of God He is. I need to remember that on the days I'm really struggling.  Shake that tambourine and praise God that He has a plan for my life and won't leave me in this place forever!

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