Praise, whether to people or even your pet; will elicit a response of tenderness and appreciation. Try it on your mate the next time you want them to do something they are resisting. Praise will make the disagreeable, agree. When I praise the Lord, it is even more powerful. I think its because when I bless the name of JESUS; it honors GOD but the benefit is all mine’s.

Some years back I learned the beneficial side of praise. I awoke to go to the restroom only to have pain radiating so severe in my feet, I could not stand. I sat back down on my bed to keep from collapsing in a heap, the pain also robbed me of strength. Standing and walking was out of the question. But because mother nature called, I had to move.

When you crawl to the bathroom you discover how good a housekeeper you are not! Once I reached the bathroom it became comical. I could only imagine what it looked like to see someone sat on a toilet bottom first, with no support from their legs or feet! So, there I sat, oscillating between fear, tears, and hysterical laughter.

Because I was incapacitated of course I had to make ‘wee, wee’ more than once that night. I think it was after the second trip to the restroom, which was a total of four round trips crawling; righteous indignation stood up in my spirit! I decided so long as I was suffering, somebody should be blessed.

My cry for deliverance became an opportunity to bless GOD! Each painful crawl across the tangled wires about my floor. through assorted shoes, loose papers, books and fearfully watches for spiders; (my bedroom was in the basement) I would remember the attributes of my friend and savior. It became my mantra. The crawling trips took on a greater purpose.

The next morning around 5 am. I crawled up the steps of my basement, backward, and pulled myself up on a chair in the kitchen. I begin preparing breakfast and around 6:30 am I crawled to my front door and unlocked it to allow the arrival of my children.

I don’t know if my parents realized I could not walk; they were used to seeing me on the floor with the children. I placed a call to my sister and asked her to come over and help.

I had worn a long maxi skirt so while my sister and the children played outside, I would slide on my skirt to a child’s chair and perform a variety of tasks. Whenever the children came through the kitchen, they would find a position on the expanse of my skirt, grab a piece of my maxi in their hands and giggle with joy as I pulled us across the floor.

We had to stop that fun when I begin to crawl out of my skirt. The weight of those little bodies exceeded the slide. On another occasion, they thought I was on the floor to play horsey. I obliged, slowly crawling with two to three little giggling riders on my back. Joy found me crawling around and my praise continued.

It was after lunch and my sister had left. I set in a little chair washing dirty dishes the dishpan resting on the lowered oven door when I heard one of my children cry out in their sleep. Without thinking about it, I stood from the little chair I was sitting in and walked into the nap room. It was as I soothed that child back to sleep that it hit me. I had walked! I had walked! By 5 pm I could walk sufficiently enough to drive people home.

This, unfortunately, was not a one-time occasion. In 2010 I begin to routinely suffer from severe gout attacks. Some attacks were not as bad as that first occasion, but several times the attacks went into my hands and once my arm. The medicine prescribed by the doctor only intensified the pain. However, whenever I would remember to praise the Lord, I found relief from the condition.

I don’t always remember to bless the name of JESUS. When difficulties plague me, my go-to is a prayer for deliverance and tears for myself. But in time I remember the dependability of praise. I become determined to gain the advantage from difficulty. When I remember to give GOD praise, my deliverance always comes.