“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.

When survivors start telling their stories, they might seem stuck in lament. It takes lots of time and perspective for them to see how God can bring good from bad, and how acknowledging the worst times in their lives might become an act of hope. If you’re ministering to a survivor who is past lamenting and trying to make sense of their suffering, actively pray that they will some day be able to identify the moments and people that show God at work in their healing process.

For survivors, being encouraged to praise God can sometimes 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.