“Give praise to the Lord, proclaim his name; make known among the nations what he has done.” (1 Chronicles 16:8)

As a parochial school kid who sat through ten years’ worth of religion classes, chapels, and catechism—not to mention Sunday school and church on the weekends—I struggled with the Bible’s numerous reminders to “praise God” and “go and tell” others about what God has done.

These thoughts consumed a lot of my time since I never received meaningful answers to my questions. Decades later, though, I realized I don’t need to speak of God’s goodness to God. I need to speak of God’s goodness to others and, often, to myself.

Telling our stories and praising God, whether or not we see the shades of a happy ending, is about reminding ourselves and telling others that goodness can still be found. Sometimes that means celebrating the obvious blessings: healing, reconciliation, answered prayers. But sometimes praise looks much quieter, like acknowledging that God remained present when we felt abandoned or recognizing a small mercy we never thought to ask for.

Being encouraged to praise God can feel like being asked to deny the reality of what happened. But genuine praise—like faithful storytelling—doesn’t require anyone to pretend that everything (or even anything) is good… it just asks us to imagine that suffering and God’s loving presence can somehow coexist.