As an Indiana girl, winters are not something I enjoy. Winters here are long stretches of gray days, and can at times be downright brutal. I do love the look of freshly fallen snow, but you won’t find me outside enjoying it if I can help it. If the temperature drops below 40 degrees, I’m staying indoors. And if I have to go out, for work, groceries, or pumping gas (my least favorite winter task) you better believe I’m bundled up like I’m heading to the Arctic.
I pull on my fluffy down coat, slide on thick gloves, pull my hood over my head, and move through the cold as quickly as possible. I’ve learned to protect myself. The cold is still cold. I still don’t like it. But I can endure it.
One day, I heard a pastor say something that changed how I think, not about weather, but about worship. He said:
“We don’t wear winter coats to change the weather. We wear them to change the effect the weather has on us.”
And just like that, the light came on. The Holy Spirit was yelling at me to “listen up, missy”.
Our “garment of praise,” as the Bible calls it in Isaiah 61:3, works the same way. Praise doesn’t always change our circumstances. But it does change the effect those circumstances have on our hearts, our minds, and our spirits.
Before that moment, I thought of praise and worship mostly as something I did at church, in my car, or in my home, with music and raised hands and a full heart. And it is that. But now I also see praise as my armor. My protection. My spiritual coat.
I praise God in the good times, to keep my spirit grounded in His goodness. To keep my heart soft and my eyes open to all He’s done, is doing, and will do in my life. I praise Him in the hard times, to guard my peace, strengthen my soul, and remind myself of who He is, even when my circumstances don’t look like I wish they did.
“I will praise Him when I am stepping out and doing scary things, and I will praise Him when His goodness overwhelms my heart.”
“I will praise Him when I am anxious and don’t see His movement, because I know it’s coming.”
Praise doesn’t make the storms stop. But it shelters me while they rage. Like armor, it builds my resistance. Like a coat, it helps me endure.
The enemy still attacks. Life still gets cold. But when I’ve wrapped myself in praise, I can stand firm, because I’ve clothed myself in truth, hope, and the presence of God.
“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Put on the full armor of God, so that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.”
—Ephesians 6:10–11 (ESV)
So no, praise won’t change Indiana’s winter weather. But it changes how the cold affects me and that makes all the difference.
