“Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised.” 

Job 1:21

The Book of Job used to confuse me until I read it alongside other women in Heather’s Facebook group Reading the Bible Chronologically. My confusion always began in chapter 1, right around the part where Job loses all of his wealth and his children, and the first thing he says is “May the name of the Lord be praised.” 

Stories of people praising God in their greatest moments of tragedy have always made me wince, a little nauseous even.  

Until I praised and thanked Jesus during radiation.  

The Sacrifice of Praise

I learned that we’re not expected to praise Him for the situation, but in it, because we need to focus on Jesus more than anything in this world-especially when tragedy hits.  

I remembered this when I read Barbara’s post: The Sacrifice of Praise. Barbara showed me that praise is a sacrifice when it costs me something, but the return on my investment is peace that comes only through faith in Jesus. 

Now I understand that Job’s praise was a beautiful sacrifice, pleasing to God. I understand why we need to remind each other that God is still good. It’s not just to play the chipper church-lady role. It’s a reminder to keep our eyes on Jesus rather than our pain.   

I think many of us need this reminder today, so I encourage you to join me on Stray Thoughts to learn more about The Sacrifice of Praise.  

Click Here To Read This Week’s Featured Post
The Sacrifice of Praise

Are You Up For Some Family Fun This Holiday Season?

Christmas is right around the corner. If you’re looking for something to do with your family over the holiday, consider teaching them how to make their own t-shirt or decorate a coffee mug. Everyone will walk away with keepsakes and memories, which will make this holiday a hit.

Check out Heather’s Etsy store to see even more designs.

Now For This Week’s Link Up!

Let’s bless and encourage one another in our walk with the Lord…

We hope this link-up will be a source of encouragement each week. If you are a Christian blogger, we invite you to link up and meet new friends within the Christian blogging community. If you’re a reader, we encourage you to visit new bloggers and discover women who love Jesus as much as you do. Whoever you are, we hope you’ll meet Jesus here.

Join us each Friday for the Grace & Truth Link-Up!

Heather Hart & Valerie Riese

Maree Dee

Lauren Sparks

Lisa Burgess

1.) Follow your hosts via their blog and/or social media channels. This is not mandatory, but appreciated.

2.) Leave 1-2 of your most recent Christian Living posts. Please do not link DIY, Crafts, Recipes, etc. Links of this kind will be deleted. We also reserve the right to delete posts that don’t align with the theme or that are deemed by the hostesses to be inappropriate. If you have questions about Grace & Truth or link-ups in general, you can watch our YouTube video: What is a Link-Up?.

3.) Visit 1-2 other links and leave a meaningful comment. We want to encourage community, so please don’t link and run. To see how to leave a link, you can watch our YouTube video: How to Link Up.

In order to be featured next week:

4.) Grab a button and/or link back to one of our hosts to encourage new linkers. This is not mandatory to participate, but is required to be featured.

Each host will choose one blog to feature in their Grace & Truth Link-Up post and promote via their social media channels next week.

Grab a Badge & Link Back to this Post

You can download the image below and upload it to your site, or use the html code provided to display the Grace & Truth badge on the sidebar of your blog, at the bottom of your post, or on a “link-ups” page. Again, this isn’t required to link-up, but it is required to be featured.

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Now Let’s Link Up!

Let’s Talk About Jesus…

We are putting together an anthology that’s all about putting our faith into words.

Sound interesting?

Click here to find out how you can join us.