Psalm 47 (KJV): Sing praises to God, sing praises

From Psalms

Psalm 47
(For the director of music. Of the Sons of Korah. A psalm.)

¹O clap your hands, all ye people;
      shout unto God with the voice of triumph.
²For the LORD most high is terrible;
      he is a great King over all the earth.
³He shall subdue the people under us,
      and the nations under our feet.
⁴He shall choose our inheritance for us,
      the excellency of Jacob whom he loved.                       Selah

⁵God is gone up with a shout,
      the LORD with the sound of a trumpet.
⁶Sing praises to God, sing praises:
      sing praises unto our King, sing praises.

⁷For God is the King of all the earth:
      sing ye praises with understanding.
⁸God reigneth over the heathen:
      God sitteth upon the throne of his holiness.
⁹The princes of the people are gathered together,
      even the people of the God of Abraham:
for the shields of the earth belong unto God:
      he is greatly exalted.

I get the sense that we should be singing praises to God from this psalm.  Which is something I love to do...as I approach my 1st Birthday/Anniversary of my sobriety, which is incredibly hard to believe considering how low I had sunk and how deep I felt I had gotten.

That's not to say I don't have bad days anymore now that I have some sobriety - because I still have bad days.  There is stress, there is fear, there is procrastination.  However, now I have tools and weapons to battle those things.  I have prayer, I have psalms, I have twelve steps, I have fellowship, and in all of that I have hope.

Every now and then I stumble on things that remind me of my days in my addictions.  Like today I happened to pick-up an old New Yorker magazine which had a story about an alcoholic that lied and cheated and drank.  I remembered doing all those things and it reminded me what a journey it's been and how much I have to be thankful for.  The nurse also happened to have the quote "Yesterday is history, tomorrow is history, today is a gift that's why it's called the present," over her cube.  As cliche as that quote is, combined with the story, to give quite a perspective.  To appreciate every sober day I have been given.  To spend with friends, to spend with family, and to spread the love of God.

Sing praises to God, indeed.

Thanks for letting me share.