Praise His Holy Name

Praise the Lord, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name. Psalm 103: 1

Today is a day for worshiping and giving God praise, and I have reason to give Him much praise. Miles is with us for a couple of days, we will take him home, and then Cole will join us for a few days. It’s always so fun to have them here, but especially sweet when we get the rare opportunity to have them separately and can give each one all of our undivided love and attention! We are enjoying every special moment of this time!

How blessed our family is to have the lives we do. I am often filled with overwhelming gratitude at God’s goodness to us and then at other times, I know I take it for granted and don’t even acknowledge all He gives. Our God keeps us in His loving care, He extends His grace to us in so many ways, and He satisfies our desires with good things. How He deserves our heartfelt gratitude, but how often we fail to honor Him with our praise.

The blessings that we have were especially brought to mind this past week when we received a letter from our 8 year old sponsor child, Kobby, who lives in Ghana. (I wrote about him in an earlier post, “Nothing Can Separate Us From the Love of God” on February 9th.) He has been a part of our lives for the past 4 years and has such a special place in our hearts. These letters are rare – maybe 6 or 7 a year, but we are always so thankful to receive them and hear from him and his family.

In each one, he includes a picture he has drawn for us, he tells us about what he is learning at the Development Center, about his hopes and dreams for the future, and about playing soccer with his friends at school. I often send him a Scripture passage to encourage him, but in this letter he sent us one – Psalm 103:1: “Praise the Lord, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise His holy name.” 

This precious child who lives in such poverty and need remembers to praise our most gracious God with all his heart and soul, and he sent us a reminder to do the same for all the many blessings we have received. How amazing is that!

Kobby has only known Him a short time. Through Compassion International and our sponsorship, he is able to attend school, get medical care, food and needed supplies, and learn about our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ. What a blessing and what hope this Savior has given him and his family. In his letters, he never asks for anything beyond our prayers and is always so grateful for our sponsorship, our small gifts, and letters.

In this one, he simply asked that we pray that he and and family be kept safe and healthy, that he will do well in school so he can have a better future, and that he can continue to learn about God’s love. Such simple things he desires, but they are the most important things. Everything else is just not necessary. And as for his prayers for us, he said that he asks God to bless us and that He will grant us our hearts’ desires.

Our hearts’ desires. I can assure you that those words brought a few tears and they deeply humbled us. This child who has so little prays for us to have much. If he only knew how many of those blessings we already have. If only our prayers and our hearts’ desires could be as beautiful and simple as his. And he longs to give Him praise. So should we.

Prayer 

Our most gracious and loving God, thank you for the blessings of life and for your presence in it. May we be reminded even more on this day of what is truly important in life through the words of this little boy. Please continue to be with him and his family and keep them in your loving care. Amen