praise therapy Archives - Kristin Saatzer

What To Do In The Wait?

January 31, 2017 By Kristin Saatzer 7 Comments

Unwell. Unengaged. Uninterested.

It was as if I stood in a hallway before an unopened door, knowing health and healing lay on the other side.

Ten years ago, I pleaded with God to heal my malaise. I desperately needed and wanted Him to open the door and allow me to step out of the gloomy hallway. Yet there were blessings in that place. Time passed and eventually, God drew me out of the hall, through the doorway and into His healing light.

These days, I find myself in yet another hallway, praying for another door to open. Only this time it involves two family members struggling through deep waters of pain.

How about you?

Do you stand before a door today, waiting for God to answer? To heal? To provide? Do you need Him to show you the way you should go? Is there a difficult decision before you keeping you awake at night?

And the door seems bolted shut.

God, Renew My Strength.

March 20, 2016 By Kristin Saatzer 4 Comments

He renews my strength.

He guides me along right paths,

bringing honor to his name.

Psalm 23:3 NLT

What comes to mind when you hear the word renew?

I think of a sunny morning, the day after a rain storm. My neighborhood is sparkly, green and fresh. The same old street, given a jolt of life. Renewed.

Webster’s defines it this way: Renew- to make something new, fresh or strong again, regenerate

Spring! The ideal time to contemplate renewal as we watch the earth regenerate with color-popping beauty, and as we mark the dramatic death and regeneration of our savior.

Are you in need of renewal? To be made new, fresh or strong again?

Even the strongest get weak don’t they? As spiritual beings, we need restoration in every area: physically, emotionally, spiritually and beyond. Continue Reading

Dear God,

April 30, 2015 By Kristin Saatzer 7 Comments

Journal Writing

As a child, I loved my diary. I used it to record the days events, my secret crushes, happy times with friends and girlhood sorrows. There were times I propped it next to my mom’s bed so she could see on paper the struggles of my heart, emotions I found too difficult to express verbally. These diaries are like written pictures, and I am grateful for the insight into who I was once upon a time.

In my adult life, journaling has been a beautiful vehicle – aiding in my spiritual growth, contributing to emotional healing and drawing me to God in prayer.

A Pattern of Hope

February 11, 2015 By Kristin Saatzer 3 Comments

Why, my soul, are you downcast?

Why so disturbed within me?

Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise Him,

My Savior and my God.

Psalm 45:3

Starry night

The nurse asked me to rate my pain level on a scale of one to five. One to five? Fifteen I screamed in my head! Then I breathed deeply and replied, “three”. A seemingly brave yet dishonest answer.

A simple surgery gone bad. A predicted one-week recovery turned into months of pain.

Yet another season of my life spent in physical pain and emotional defeat. Downcast and disturbed much like our favorite Old Testament shepherd turned king- David.

I love the Psalms. In the high and low turns of my life, I always go there. One-hundred and fifty Psalms written as poetry, prayers or music by fifty-seven authors.

Psalm forty-five, verse three is a repetition verse. These same words were spoken by David three times, refrains written by a hurting soul. When something repeats in scripture, I take notice. In this particular refrain, I see a pattern.

In the first part of the Psalm, David asked questions to himself, “Why my soul are you downcast…Why so disturbed within me?”

Me too David, me too.

To myself I’ve asked, “Why am I so down?” “What is wrong with me today?” To God, “God, why are you allowing me to suffer yet AGAIN?”

You too?

Life on earth is one big question mark.

And my friend, it is OK to ask. That’s what the people in the Bible did and so can we. Unload your heart to Him. We don’t have to be brave yet dishonest with our pain because He is the Mighty Counselor. He knows the pain you are experiencing is a fifteen and not a one.

But we must not stay here though, in this place of asking. It is essential to take the next step or bitterness and discouragement will consume us.

As we peek at part two of this Psalm, we see that David turned to HOPE and PRAISE after his time of questioning. “…Put your hope in God and I will yet praise Him…”

The Greek definition of hope is: confident expectation.

This is no willy-nilly kind of hope. This is a confident hope in knowing that our God is for us. We wait with expectancy, remembering He is there, no matter what circumstance we find ourselves in.

Next, after choosing to hope, David chose praise. Praise is my greatest comfort in trials. I call it “praise-therapy”. We praise Him not because He needs it but because we need it and He is worthy of our praise.

Matthew Henry said,

The way to forget our miseries, is to remember the God of mercies.

Amen.

David’s blueprint is one to follow. Let’s go to God with our pain and honest questions, then let Him lead us to HOPE and PRAISE. Keep coming back to it until David’s pattern is your pattern.

Oh and here’s a little free advice… when the person who can greatly reduce your pain asks you to rate it, be honest and tell her it’s a fifteen. Save the bravery for another day.