Thursday, November 17, 2011

31 Days of Praise

I've mentioned this book a couple times already since this blog started because 31 Days of Praise by Ruth Myers with Warren Myers will harness the spiritual and physical benefits of gratitude! And when we're grieving we need all the help and benefits we can get!

This collection carries the reader through a full month of daily praise prayers. After Ruth wrote these in the 1960's and shared them with women on mimeographed pages, they floated around for 20 years until God put them into the hands of a godly businessman in Oklahoma City. He helped Ruth and her husband to publish the praises in book form, reserving the first 700 copies for himself to send as Christmas gifts. Within three years 20,000 copies had been distributed! Then, in 1994 Ruth and Warren edited and polished it for Multonmah Publishers. It's still being printed today and you can find it at your Christian bookstore or on the web with Christian Book Distributors .

I know, "Praise?" Why would we praise God while mourning? Let me assure you Ruth Myers knows what she's praising about: she was widowed, too. These praise prayers are gentle, sacrificial expressions of worship for times when we have no words. 
Her first husband suffered intensely from cancer and died at age 32, leaving her with two young children to raise. It wasn't until eight years later she married Warren. They've been missionaries and in ministry with Navigators ever since. I think you'll love the honesty and freshness of their praise!

31 Days . . . helps cultivate grateful hearts and a lifestyle of praise. Divided into a couple sections, the book instructs in how to praise God, plus why to, and provides foundational truth about a person's relationship with God.
But the best part is the section marked Day1 - Day 31. Each day provides 2 - 3 paragraphs of praise that you can read aloud or silently as your own prayer to God--good stuff when grief clouds your mind and it's too hard to pray. 31 Days . . . gives you the words to pray when the pain is so deep you have no words.

God understands, He feels our pain, yet He is good; His loving kindness covers us everyday and He is worthy of our praise even from the depths of dark pain.
ferree

2 comments:

  1. Sounds like a good book to have.

    "Put on the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness."

    This verse has been my mainstay these past months.

    ReplyDelete
  2. That's a great verse, and you wear it well. Thanks for sharing your heart.

    ReplyDelete

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