I have been thinking a lot about worship lately.

Our family has experienced what I could only call an emotional earthquake; certain events have taken place that have left us feeling like we are standing in emotional rubble, trying to make sense of life and God and everything in between. We are in, without a doubt, the hardest season of our lives. And we are trying, with everything we have, to cling to the truth that we know about God: That He is good. He is a sovereign God. He is a loving God. He loves us and is working in the background of our story, for His glory.

Each day, we rise, and we pray. Every night before we go to sleep, we pray. We lift our hearts to God, and we share our burdens and our fears and our desires. We seek him and we plead with him. But the other day, in the middle of the mundane activity of hanging the laundry, I had a sacred moment with God. As I went about hanging our clothes, Rowan pulled out his guitar and started to worship. One of my favourite things is listening to my husband worship, so I stopped and closed my eyes and just listened to him worship God. Eventually, eyes closed standing by the washing line, I started to worship with him.

As we stood there and worshipped, I felt my heart shift. As we praised God and sang of his wonders, I felt my resolve strengthen. Almost like some unseen force was pulling my shoulders back, straightening my spine and lifting my head. In the midst of worshipping God, there was an exchange; some of my anxiety was taken off me and I was handed peace. And in that moment, God reminded me of a few things.

Firstly, when we posture our hearts towards God, when we intentionally lift our hearts and minds to him and worship Him, we are changed. When we place God in his rightful place, as Lord and Saviour of our lives, every encounter with him impacts us in some way. Sometimes we are impacted in ways that change us forever. And sometimes we are impacted in small, gentle ways. Regardless, we are impacted. And God reminded me that when my eyes are on Him, my heart is strengthened.

The second thing I was reminded of was that we shouldn’t give away our worship. What do I mean by that? Well, most of us don’t stop praying when life is rough. In fact, it’s the opposite, we generally ramp up our prayers and plead with God. We don’t give away our prayer, we hold onto it like a lifeline. And because we cling to prayer so strongly, we let go of our worship. We let go of our adoration and worship and lean into prayer.

This is not wrong because prayer is one of our greatest weapons, especially when life is knocking us about and the enemy has launched an all-out attack. But that doesn’t mean we let go of our worship. That doesn’t mean we stop spending time just adoring God for who He is. In the hardest seasons, difficult as it may be, is when we should be worshipping the most. Habakkuk puts it beautifully chapter 3:17-19 (NIV):

Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior. The Sovereign Lord is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to tread on the heights.

Despite the darkness or barrenness of the season, we should still rejoice in the Lord. We should still praise him and worship him. Not because of what we are believing he will do, but because He is deserving of our praise and adoration. He is worthy of our worship.

The last thing the Lord reminded me was that we are the only ones who can give away our worship. People will hurt us. We will be betrayed. We will face difficulties. But in all of that, the choice is ours to give away our worship. With everything going on, I had allowed the enemy to take my eyes off Jesus and I gave away my worship. I stopped spending time in worship just adoring God. I still spoke with God each day and prayed and thanked him for what he was doing. But I had stopped worshipping him. I had stopped adoring him. And that day, as I stood worshipping surrounded by laundry, I took back my worship. and I have been holding onto it a lot more tightly since.

I don’t know what life looks like for you right now. Maybe like me, you feel like you’re standing in the rubble. Maybe you are in a valley, or maybe you are making your way out of the valley. Whatever season you are in, can I encourage you to not give away your worship. Do we still pray and seek God to intervene in our situations? Absolutely. But we also stop and worship. We stop and seek His face and tell him of our deep love and adoration for him. We sing of his goodness and grace. And as we worship the Great I Am, our hearts will be strengthened and ready to face the next day.