Footprints in the sand.....

I wasn't raised in church. Did we go occasionally? Yes, but not regularly. My impression of worship and praise came vicariously through those around me who did attend church. I grew up thinking that God was to be praised all the time....He is good all of the time. Is this a wrong impression, no, but is it reality? No. I am being brutally honest when I say there have been many times in my life when I didn't feel like praising God....loving Him, obeying Him, praying to Him, thanking Him....I do all of these things....I often times do them several times throughout the day but I sometimes struggle with the praising. See God is always good but life...well it can suck, simply but not eloquently put. Life isn't always beautiful, rosy and cheerful. In my experience there are times when it can be quite dark and depressing. It is real easy to praise Him when things are going our way. In my opinion life is essentially a series of peaks and valleys....some peaks are super high and some valleys are super low. While your climbing to the top of a very high peak are you praising God? When your in the depths of a super low valley are you praising him? Sure we all stand up and sing out our praises when we are on the top of that peak. While hanging on the cross Jesus cried out "My God, WHY have you forsaken Me?" I think it is safe to say that the valley Jesus was in was way deeper then all of mine combined but the point is He felt abandoned and alone. He wasn't praising His (our) Father while he was dying for us. Jesus wasn't even what I would consider human. He was human physically but His soul was purely Heavenly. He knew His fate but He still cried out in great pain when He needed God the most. We (I) am human so I think God has less of an expectation for me then He did for Jesus. I praise God plenty....I know better then anyone how good He can be, but I also know that God expects us to fall. He expects doubt. He expects us to act human. He made me....with His own hands He molded me. When I am in a valley....so far from his Heavenly Hands...He is there for me still. God doesn't demand our praise. I think we praise more for our benefit than for His. We are perfect to Him and we don't have to prove it. He knows and feels my doubt before I even have a second to comprehend it as doubt. Never, ever has he expected me to praise Him through the pain and fear. I have all kinds of crazy expectations of God but he expects nothing but a beautiful disaster from me. The expectations that fill my mind about praise and worship are based solely on human behavior, not God's. I am safe in the fact that God understands me in times of both great pain and great joy. He knows my heart like no other and how I choose to worship and praise him is based solely on a mutual understanding of each other. Is this how everyone feels? No. But that is okay! One of my favorite stories is the story of the man on the beach and the footprints. Resonates with me in a big way. Hopefully we can all learn to praise God to the beat of our own drum. Praise him however and whenever works for you but realize that sometimes our praise can be internal and although this praise remains unseen by others, it is an intimate act between ourselves and God and this is really the only praise that matters.