In the local language praise is 'pegbantug', it carries the connotation of uplifting, honoring, magnifying, appreciation.  So this is what was going through my mind as the following events were taking place.  Does praise in English have a similar connotation?

The other day as I was getting ready to drag my trail weary body into bed, I heard an all too well-remembered sound - that of rats running in the loft just a few feet from where I was going to be lying.  I thought to myself, oh well, as long as they can't get to me let them have whatever they can find, as I'm too tired to do anything about it tonight.  But they greatly disturbed my sleep.

The following day as I was having prayer after evening worship with my 14 year-old daughter, I thought to pray that the Lord would just keep the rats away so that I could sleep.  About an hour later I heard the rat come up the outside of the wall (it is bamboo so an easy foothold for the beasts) and head for the peak of the roof looking for a break in the screening that connects the top of the wall with the roof.  I was tempted to think, oh well, guess God just didn't care whether there were rats in my house tonight or whether I got a good nights sleep or not.  But then I realized that  I serve the God of the entire universe and He does care!!  So I decided to praise the Lord instead of feeling sorry for myself.  I praised the Lord that the rat hadn't found the hole yet and that there were as yet still no rats in my house, which was what I'd prayed for in the first place.  Whenever I heard them scratching around on the outside, I'd just praise the Lord that they weren't in and that He had the power and ability to keep them out.  Within 15 minutes, they decided their search for holes into the house were fruitless (there really are holes they could have come in) and they left and I had an amazing sleep with NO rats.  This has gone on two nights.  A very welcome miracle especially since our resident rat catcher (Kent) hasn't been home for quite a long while.  I'm still praising the Lord.

Then this afternoon, after a hectic week of trying to train and jump start four eager newcomers (student missionaries) and also attempting to resettle into my house (after being gone for over 2 months), meet with school and clinic staff to see where things were with them, and also catch up with all the people in my life here, I was feeling overwhelmed and a little blue.  With the Sabbath coming on I was tempted to think that I (in my pastor husband's absence) would need to do some extraordinary things at church in order to hold people's attention and hopefully teach them; then there was visitation to consider, classes to be taught, issues to be dealt with and the list was getting longer the more I thought of it.  Then I stopped in my tracks and remembered that the purpose of the Sabbath is to praise the Lord and nothing else.  That doesn't mean that nothing else happens on that day, it is just that the focus is praise and the rest of the things will follow in its wake, and if it doesn't it wasn't appropriate to be doing.  This thought gave me such comfot to know that I can truly rest in the arms of the God of the universe and all He asks of me today is to praise Him for His Godness, His Greatness, His Goodness.  And then I can genuinely rest even though I will be very busy.  Pretty awesome thought for a weary missionary.