-18 “Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior.”Talk about a bad day.  This verse, is from a time when the people relied very heavily on crops and animals for survival.  This verse is basically saying that they have hit rock bottom.  That there is nothing going right for them.  If their crops are not producing any food and they have not meat in their stalls, then not only do they not have anything to eat, but they have nothing to barter with either.  Have you ever felt this low?  Have you even been in a situation where you couldn’t really imagine it getting any worse.  That is where this person was when they wrote this.  Even if you haven’t been in a situation this dire before, I am sure you can imagine what they were feeling.  Take a minute and try to put yourself in their shoes.  Close your eyes and imagine you are walking through your fields.  You look from vine to vine just praying for some grapes that you may have missed, or that miraculously grew overnight, but you find nothing.  Now imagine you are walking by your fig tree.  This tree that was once full of figs now is now empty.  Next you walk through the olive crops and pray that there will be some source of food, but again you find nothing.  You think, at least you have your animals to provide you food.  However, when you go past the sheep pen, there are none.  When you walk through the cattle stalls, they too are empty.  You realize you have nothing, you have somehow lost it all.  What are you feeling right now?  What are you thinking?  How do you think you would react?  Would you be angry at God?  Would you blame Him for not providing for you?  I am not sure how I would feel or what I would think, but I do not think that my first thought would be to rejoice in the Lord.  The verse says “yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior.”  I am thinking that I would struggle to find anything to be joyful about.  I am joyful in God my Savior.  He is amazing and I love Him so much.  However, when I am at my worst, I am not sure that I would think of that.  I do think I would turn to Him.  I believe I would ask God for His help and for Him to give me the strength and courage to make it through this difficult time.  But, would I rejoice in the Lord?Honestly, I can’t picture it.  I can’t picture how that would work.  I do know that when life is going against us and we can’t see a way out, that is the perfect time to praise the Lord.  We don’t have to see the way out.  We can just praise the Lord for being so awesome that He can see a way out even when we can’t.  We don’t have to praise Him for the situation, we can praise Him for who He is and for what He does for us.  Ok, so now that I am writing this I am starting to see how this could work.  I guess we wouldn’t have to be rejoicing that we were in this dire situation but we could rejoice that God was in it with us.  However, would we think to do this?  Would it occur to us when the chips are down that we should rejoice and praise the Lord?  My first thought is no.  Not without someone reminding us, or without some practice ahead of time.  Several things I have been reading over the last few years have been saying that the best thing you can do when you are struggling is to praise the Lord.  The fastest way out of a difficult situation is to praise the Lord while you are still in it and all is looking lost.  So then, how do we do this?  How do we try to practice ahead of time so that when we really need to remember this, we can?  I have a couple of suggestions, some you may have heard before.  Some I probably even mentioned before on this podcast.  However, I think that’s how God works.  He tells us something again and again until we get it.  My first suggestion would be practicing gratitude.  When you are focused on being grateful for things, you can’t also be feeling sorry for yourself, or feeling miserable at the same time.  Even if you can find just one small thing to be grateful for.  For instance, you have to go to a funeral and you are really sad, but you can be grateful that the weather is at least holding out for you.  Or maybe the weather had been raining all day but on the way to the cemetery the rain stopped and now you can see a rainbow.  I promise you, no matter how bad things are, there is at least one small thing you can be grateful for.  Practice finding that thing and focusing on that, thanking God for that.  I promise if you give this a try, you will find more joy in your life.Another suggestion would be to find a few verses that talk about praising the Lord, or rejoicing in the Lord, and either memorize them, or post them around your house where you will see them often.  You could put one on your mirror so you see it every time you look in the mirror.  Or, maybe on your fridge so you read it every time you get something out of the refrigerator.  You could put a note like that on your lock screen of your phone so when you look at your phone it reminds you to praise the Lord or rejoice.  Why should you do this now, when everything seems to be going well?  First, if you can get in the habit of praising God all the time, when times are good and when times are bad, I think you will see less and less of the bad times.  I think God loves to reward his children for appreciating Him and thanking Him.  Second, if you don’t intentionally get into the habit when things are going good, and it feels easier to praise the Lord and to rejoice, then the chances are a lot less likely that you will do it when everything feels hard.  Another suggestion is to listen to praise music.  I think many of us listen to music.  Maybe its when you are driving it the car, cooking dinner, cleaning the house, whatever the reason, most of us listen to music.  What I am suggesting is that some of that music you listen to is praise music.  What you listen to affects your mood.  You could be in a perfectly good mood and then an angry song comes on the radio and if you don’t change the channel you can notice yourself starting to get in a bad mood.  If kids listen to a lot of rap music they may start to feel negatively towards the police for no other reason than the lyrics that they are constantly listening to are telling them that police are bad.  Those are examples of how music can negatively affect your mood, but the opposite is true as well.  You can be in a really bad mood and then an upbeat song can come on the radio and your mood can change for the better.  If you are listening to praise music about how great God is, then those will be the thoughts flowing through your head.  The music can not only change your mood, but it can also change your outlook on life or your current circumstance.  Some of my friends are really struggling right now.  When all seems lost it can take a daily, or sometimes hourly reminder to praise God in the struggle.  Praise God for any slight sign of improvement.  Praise God for the things that do go right in the day.  Maybe you got up and everything seemed to go wrong.  But, you know what?  You got up that day, and not everyone can say that.  You are able to walk, and not everyone can say.  There is always something you can praise God for.  Try your best to focus on those things and just keep turning over the other things to God and trust that He will take care of them for you.  It is not easy to praise God and to rejoice when all seems lost, however, it is possible. If you take the time to learn how to praise God, even in the difficult times, I think you will be amazed how different you feel.  I think you will be amazed at how much more at peace you will feel, even when it feels like things can’t get any worse.  Give it a try, what do you have to lose?Dear Heavenly Father I ask that you pray for everyone listening to this episode today. Dear Lord we ask that you help us to praise you. You do so much for us and we don't deserve any of it. You don't do it for any other reason other than the fact that you love us completely. Lord help us to see all the things that we can rejoice about even when we're struggling. Jesus shine a light on all the things we have to be grateful for when we can't see them. Lord it must be difficult for you when you see us struggling. We ask that you help us through the struggle that you help us lean into you and praise you for all that you do for us.  Sometimes we feel like all is lost and that there is nothing anyone can do to change the situation. And you know what, that may be true. But you are not anyone Lord You are the Lord of lords and the King of kings.  There isn't anything that you can't do. Help us to remember this Lord. Help us to rejoice when all seems lost because nothing is too big for our God to fix. We love you lord you are so amazing and we are so very grateful for you and all that you do. We thank you Lord and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus holy name amen.