I have spent the last nine weeks with you on a journey through my book Cultivating Peace: Receiving God’s Peace within Your Chaos.
We have touched on how much you are loved, valued and cherished in the eyes of God and how, through a relationship with Jesus, you are blessed with the power of God himself to not only receive His peace within the chaos of life, but also the strength and courage to follow Him in making changes that will bring His balance of your priorities to your life. We have dig into our minds to understand that we are living with lies that are choking out our ability to believe the truth. We have examined our roles as wives and mothers form God’s point of view. We have learned the true purpose for our homes and we have even learned we have influence that matters no matter the work we do each day.
It was a lot to cover in such a short time, right?
I really hope you have taken some time to invite God into your life through these past weeks. Maybe you have stated praying again. Maybe you have chosen to face a fear. Maybe you have even begun to focus on your priorities in a different way. I hope those choices have ushered in a new level of peace for you.
I am sure, however, that you have experienced some chaos along the way.
How do I know? Because every time I work through this material, God shows up in unexpected ways; usually through new and unexpected chaos. This time was no different. With each chapter I reviewed, along with it came some new chaos in my life. Time management chaos. Priority balance chaos. Marital chaos. Parenting chaos. Work related chaos. Nothing it seemed was off limits. However, within the chaos was something new.
Will you trust me without hearing from me in the usual way?
Usually, in reaction to prayers for guidance, I feel God’s leadership through discerning His word and the events around me through His eyes. This time, the answer was very different: would I move in faith before He answered? Would I step out and trust He really would direct that step? This became trusting Him and His leadership on a deeper level than I have yet to experience in my Christian life so far.
Was His peace present? Not always. And that’s gotten me thinking. Maybe you too are experiencing a new, deeper level of trust with God, maybe you too don’t recognize His voice and you don’t really feel any peace at the moment. Maybe you too feel as if everything is all tangled up in some kind of knot and you don’t know which way to move, if at all.
Over the past weeks I have had to change up my normal God game plan in order to learn to hear Him differently and receive His peace in a new way. Maybe what I have been doing will help you as well.
When you don’t feel God’s peace:
Pray. Ask if there’s anything in your life preventing you from receiving it. Ask if there’s anything you need to repent of, seek forgiveness for, let go of.
Fast. Choose anything: food, TV, wine, coffee, reading, Facebook, shopping, whatever and let it go for at least three days. Every time you think about that activity, pray about your life and the knot.
Seek godly counsel. Seek out a mature Christ-centered friend whom you trust. Call a counselor. Talk to your pastor. Share all the angst on your heart and in your mind and see how their perspective can guide you.
Meditate. Focus on what you know about Jesus and God and His Word and allow 5-10 minutes a day for the truth to sink in.
Study. What does God’s word have to say about the issue or underlying fear, doubt and worry you are experiencing? Don’t stick to your usual verses; seek out new scriptures and definitely read the verses around it. Consider going deeper by looking up the reference verses as well.
Look for where He is blessing you. We get caught up on all the stressful things in our l, but forget to notice the blessings. They are there. Do you see them?
I have thoroughly enjoyed walking on this part of our journey together. I mean that. And I want to equip you so well that you firmly believe nothing can stay in the way of you receiving God’s peace and living a balanced life in every season.
So, I’ve enlisted some heavy-hitting, powerhouse Christian women to speak truth into your lives. Over the next several weeks you are going to get to hear from women in all seasons of life, in all types of situations, and with all kinds pf perspectives, share their wisdom about balance in this life. Their words are so full of truth, so full of hope, so full of God’s love that I know each one will bless you mightily as you read.
Thank you for spending the last few weeks (or even just the last few minutes) with me. May God, who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, bless you with His peace, strength, hope and love according to His power at work with in you. Amen.