Philippians 4:5b-7, "The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."
Living in peace has been my mantra the last few days, however I have listened very little to it. Some have been blessed with peace as they wade through life that will inevitably impede forward motion. This guy has peace only when things completely leave my hands. Because of which I welcome to some degree crisis situations because crisis tends to breed a bit of chaos. In chaos, control is never total. It at best is partial. The only thing you have total control of is yourself. And, that is hard enough. For me, in moments of "people crisis" my goal is to wade the waters of that chaos with a servant heart. To do so keeps me focused on loving and caring for the person or people no matter how gentle or bold I must be. In the end, I want God to win in the lives of the people involved, and not drive them farther away. If I don't serve out of love and with flexibility, and attempt to control the situation due to what seems logical, my efforts become a thorn of hurt instead of a healing agent.
These past few days, as we waited to have my visa (and the children's) to come through peace was my mantra, but not my reality. Instead of approaching the situation with flexibility, grace, and love, a fire was fueled inside by anger, frustration, stress, and whatever else annoyed me at the time. I knew in my heart (spirit) that we would be in Australia, however that didn't matter because of all the frustration we were facing. I knew, but I didn't listen. My fleshly (sinful) response meant more to me than what I knew deep in my heart. In the end, I knew we would get to Australia at some point, which brought me comfort. However, my faith was weak because of my need to control. My frustration with the mistakes I made, lack of overall communication, and in essence, the job performance of others set ablaze my flesh. Peace was my mantra, but doubt was my platform.
The Lord is at hand! Regardless of our outcome as we journey to Australia, whether we left tomorrow (crazy) or another day, my heart was not peaceful. It was not peaceful because of my need to control. It was not peaceful because of mistakes I made and the difficulty of others following through in a timely fashion (still working through a bit of frustration on that). I was not peaceful because control was more important than flexibility. I understand that to much of either will be costly. However, in this situation both were crucial. I needed to be in the sweet spot: flexible control. What I really needed was to LET GO and LET GOD. I needed to trust that God was at hand. I needed to trust that I can give Him my anxiousness. I needed to rest in the peace of God because He is God. His timing is never late. It is always on time, although I may not like it at times.
To live in peace is to trust that God is of His word. He can be trusted. We have to be responsible and do our part. For many of us we need to have a better understanding and grasp of what our part really is. We need to learn to be comfortable with that role as well. We can attempt to control, but to much control without peace, flexibility, love, and trust will lead a fiery furnace fueled by our flesh. God is a god of trust. At the end of the day we need to rest in that very fact and not be anxious.
Living in peace has been my mantra the last few days, however I have listened very little to it. Some have been blessed with peace as they wade through life that will inevitably impede forward motion. This guy has peace only when things completely leave my hands. Because of which I welcome to some degree crisis situations because crisis tends to breed a bit of chaos. In chaos, control is never total. It at best is partial. The only thing you have total control of is yourself. And, that is hard enough. For me, in moments of "people crisis" my goal is to wade the waters of that chaos with a servant heart. To do so keeps me focused on loving and caring for the person or people no matter how gentle or bold I must be. In the end, I want God to win in the lives of the people involved, and not drive them farther away. If I don't serve out of love and with flexibility, and attempt to control the situation due to what seems logical, my efforts become a thorn of hurt instead of a healing agent.
These past few days, as we waited to have my visa (and the children's) to come through peace was my mantra, but not my reality. Instead of approaching the situation with flexibility, grace, and love, a fire was fueled inside by anger, frustration, stress, and whatever else annoyed me at the time. I knew in my heart (spirit) that we would be in Australia, however that didn't matter because of all the frustration we were facing. I knew, but I didn't listen. My fleshly (sinful) response meant more to me than what I knew deep in my heart. In the end, I knew we would get to Australia at some point, which brought me comfort. However, my faith was weak because of my need to control. My frustration with the mistakes I made, lack of overall communication, and in essence, the job performance of others set ablaze my flesh. Peace was my mantra, but doubt was my platform.
The Lord is at hand! Regardless of our outcome as we journey to Australia, whether we left tomorrow (crazy) or another day, my heart was not peaceful. It was not peaceful because of my need to control. It was not peaceful because of mistakes I made and the difficulty of others following through in a timely fashion (still working through a bit of frustration on that). I was not peaceful because control was more important than flexibility. I understand that to much of either will be costly. However, in this situation both were crucial. I needed to be in the sweet spot: flexible control. What I really needed was to LET GO and LET GOD. I needed to trust that God was at hand. I needed to trust that I can give Him my anxiousness. I needed to rest in the peace of God because He is God. His timing is never late. It is always on time, although I may not like it at times.
To live in peace is to trust that God is of His word. He can be trusted. We have to be responsible and do our part. For many of us we need to have a better understanding and grasp of what our part really is. We need to learn to be comfortable with that role as well. We can attempt to control, but to much control without peace, flexibility, love, and trust will lead a fiery furnace fueled by our flesh. God is a god of trust. At the end of the day we need to rest in that very fact and not be anxious.
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