We went to the city dump in Honduras and let me tell you… it smelled bad. I mean REALLY bad. As we drove up on the bus, I literally started gagging. It was not a pleasant experience at first and I was a bit scared to get off of the bus because I knew the smell would get worse. But I prayed for strength, and God answered.
We served food out of the bus to the people and it was really difficult seeing their way of life. Living in trash and working all day to collect cardboard and other various items to sell to vendors so they can provide for their families. It was hard to watch because I am so used to living in America and living a life of comfort and to what they would see as luxury.
Once God gave me the strength to get off of the bus, I had the opportunity to lead worship in Spanish. It was amazing to be able to praise God in a dump. I will never forget this day because as we worshipped, one little old lady stood out to me. Her clothes were ragged and she was really dirty. As I played the guitar, I looked over and with one hand she held the food we served to everyone and the other hand was up praising the Lord. It was so incredible to watch this lady who has nothing and who lives in a dump praising God. Now that is the definition of true worship.
Praising the Lord is something that I have taken for granted in my life. “Praise the Lord!” is a phrase that I have used far too often for the wrong reasons. I find myself saying praise the Lord all the time while in actuality; I am actually not praising the Lord at all. I have watered down this phrase which is not something I am proud of.
I was first convicted of this back in America as a friend of mine said, “Marcie, you tend to say that phrase a lot. So when you say it, do you actually mean it?” Immediately, my heart changed. I never realized how much I said that phrase out of context until that day.
Now in Honduras, I find myself saying it all the time again. Like when I find chocolate or peanut butter to eat, I shout praise the Lord because I am just that excited! And yet this one lady in the dump lives off of nothing and she still chooses to praise God. It is not just some phrase to her, because when she was worshipping I could tell she meant it.
That lady was an inspiration to me. As I want to be a person that praises God every day. I don’t want to be someone who just blurts out praise the Lord at random times, but rather truly and wholeheartedly praises God throughout the day. I believe that is what God deserves, and I want to live that out. I want to live a life of worship. I want to constantly praise the Lord with my actions and thoughts. I have had the opportunity to lead worship a lot in Honduras which has been incredible because I love praising God with music, but I want more than that for my life. I don’t just want to praise Him for an hour with music, but rather live in a constant state of worship.
