“Let everything that hath breath praise the LORD. Praise ye the LORD” (Psalm 150:6).

You will remember from yesterday that we met two high school students. Jessica was discontent with her life and thought her friend Kirsten had it made. “No wonder Kirsten loves to praise the Lord in youth group testimonies!” Jessica accused her of having it very easy. Kirsten had good grades. She had a wonderful family and a lovely home. “No wonder she loves to praise the Lord,” Jessica accused her, only to find out several hours later that Kirsten had cancer. She had very serious cancer. In spite of this, she praised the Lord and declared Him to be awesome and good all the time.

When Jessica found out the truth about her friend’s cancer, she was smitten with grief. Instantly she was stricken with remorse and guilt over the way she had earlier spoken to Kirsten. As soon as she could, she ran to her friend at lunch. “Kirsten, I just heard. I am so sorry for the way I spoke to you and the way I accused you,” Jessica sobbed.

The girls embraced, and Kirsten whispered something in Jessica’s ear that she would never forget. I will tell you what Kirsten said tomorrow. For now, be careful how you view people. You may think they have it easy when actually their lives may be severely hurting.

Here’s what I’m stopping to think about today: It is easy to praise the Lord when life is easy. It is blessed to praise the Lord when life is crushing.