Peace - That passes all understanding

Hello again, How is everyone?

I am going to start this post with a vow, that I will not nor have I previously written about anything that I haven't experienced or cannot personally attest to. So, today I want to talk about Peace. Philippians chapter 4, verses 6 and 7 say this: "Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation by prayer and petition, with Thanksgiving, present your requests to God, And the peace of God which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." Sounds wonderful, doesn't it? In this day and age of so much chaos, unrest, hostility, mistrust, anger, and uncertainty, some peace and tranquility would be wonderful.

I must have read this verse and heard it taught dozens of times, but it evaded me and I always thought that I must have been doing something wrong because I was experiencing anything but peace. But once I started leaning into God and making my relationship with him a priority in my life, I did start to experience peace and it did go beyond my understanding because I didn't know when it came to me or why I had it. What I mean is, just one day out of nowhere I realized that I wasn't anxious, or scared, or worried, I was at peace. It perplexed me because I had plenty going on to be uptight and worried about, but I just wasn't. So again, the word of God is alive and well people, it is true and it will not return to you void...

However, that peace is invading me right now. I have always struggled with anxiety. It is my self-diagnosis that it stems from traumatic events that have occurred in my life, and along the way you will learn about those horrid events as they pertain to my posts. Over the past few days, I have had several situations dropped in my lap. Nothing horrible, but they are big decisions and great opportunities, and the fear and anxiety of "what do I do?" is overwhelming me. Of course, I know who to go to about it, and I have but the anxiety is still there.

Not to mention, these past few days have been a rollercoaster of emotions in our country. I have been watching a lot of the news lately, and a lot of events have been happening lately. Some good, some tragic, some sadness...and then I switch over to social media and sometimes it can be an escape, I find a lot of comedy or inspirational things on there, but sometimes it just adds to my anxiety and triggers my depression and sometimes sparks anger in me. None of that is conducive to peace. Then I realized, I needed to take a break and center myself because this bevy of emotions - mostly negative - was going to pull e down if I didn't get a grip on it. So, I am taking a break from television and social media for a few days to give God space and room to pour into me. I am calling it a fast of my own creation. We will talk about fasting some other time, but sometimes you have to create space for God to move in your life.

God is not forceful, he is not going to invade or make you spend time with Him. You have to want Him there, invite Him in, but in order to do that there has to be time, room, and space for Him. You can't pray for God to give you answers, and direction and to speak to you, but all of your time and mental space is being filled with busy, busy, busy, and social media, and television and other people's opinions and all the things of the world. He has to have room. I get it, life is busy. There are jobs and kids and spouses and obligations, but you have to be intentional. For instance, I am NOT a morning person. I will get up if I have to, but I never want to. I used to get up at 6:45 am to get ready to get to work by 8 am. Then would come home mentally tired and try to spend time reading my bible and spending time with God and it never worked. I would be tired and hungry and irritated sometimes....so I decided to start getting up at 6:15 am to spend time with God instead. It was a big sacrifice for me, but it was important to me and it worked out better.

I didn't always get it in, sometimes I would oversleep, and sometimes the spirit of the snooze button came over me, but most times I hit the mark. And I needed to start my day with it because my co-workers and that job -whew- let's just say they had better be glad I know Jesus because His expectation of my actions and conduct was the only thing that kept me from showing my butt and going off plenty of times! On those days I skipped it, it was always a bad day. Lots of repenting going on, on those days. I can admit it, I can be real about it. That is what this platform is all about. Our Christian Journey...we are believers and we strive every day to be more like Christ and to be the people he called us to be. It does not mean we are perfect or that life for us will be perfect. It means we trust God with our lives and he trusts us to trust him. That's where the peace comes from, trusting God and making space for him in your life.