Skip to main content

Unwavering Peace


As a child I had the privilege to grow up in a Christian home. I went to church and learned about God and I heard things like

“Peace that passes all understanding” 
Philippians 4:7

“Don’t stress or worry about tomorrow because God is in absolute control.”
Matthew 6:34
Isaiah 14:24
Jeremiah 29:11

These truths were etched in my mind early but I wouldn't truly know what they meant until later in my life.

As time went on, my parents taught me about God on a deeper level because through them, I had a front row seat to see how these truths actually played out in life. You see, there is always a choice to be made when circumstances arise. The choice to stand fast and trust God or the choice to crumble and let the troubles of this life overtake you. As a young girl, I watched my parents make the choice to remain faithful over and over. Through every hardship, every pain, and every heartache they chose God EVERY SINGLE time....

and they still choose God!!!

Their example helped shape my entire outlook on God and life.

This life is hard, long and painful. God doesn’t promise there won’t be heartache or tough times. He doesn’t promise rainbows and butterflies everyday... what He does promise is that He will never leave us or forsake us (Deuteronomy 31:6). What He does promise is that He has us in His Hands (Psalm 27:10, Isaiah 41:11, Isaiah 46:4). In Him we find our joy, hope, and strength. His ways are greater, His ways are higher, and His ways never fail.

When I heard that I could have peace that passes all understanding as a child, I actually thought my mind would be like a calm flowing river no matter what was happening in my life. I truly believed that because of my "trickling river" mind my entire countenance would illuminate peace. I have come to find out this is not the case. When hardships come, when gut wrenching heartaches arise, and when worries rush in; my mind goes a thousand miles a minute. There is nothing calming about it at all.

If anything, my mind is like a raging rapids wild adventure ride. Only, I am blindfolded trying to navigate through all of my thoughts and emotions with ice cold water rushing in on every side.

PEACE?!?

 I'm sorry but there is nothing peaceful when I am left alone with my thoughts.

I used to get extremely upset at myself that I couldn’t control my thoughts. Why could I not keep complete focus on God when things were crumbling all around me? I used to sit there and let the devil win by beating myself up about it all the time....

But then God stepped in and I realized that my raging, absolutely scary, water ride of a mind is the entire point!!!!!

Literally I cannot do anything.

I have no control over anything. I cannot control my thought life without God, I cannot control or fix any situation in my life... only God can. I am nothing without my Savior. So instead of beating myself up

I surrender.

I surrender my crazy mind to my Savior every single day.

When heartaches come, when death occurs, when a pandemic arises, when sickness happens, and when ministry seems too much for me to bear

I surrender it all...

humbly, vulnerably, and unashamedly I let God have it ALL!!!

That’s it, that’s when the peace comes: the complete surrender of every ounce of my being to the One who is All, over all, and in control of it all!!!

Peace, unwavering peace, happens with complete surrender. Admitting I desperately need God every single day.

So on this day and every day forward I choose surrender!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Every Experience is a Classroom

One of the biggest reasons I love sports is because each sport can teach you so much about life and so much about you as an individual. Over the years I have really started to love running. I am by no stretch of the imagination a marathon runner and probably never will be but this sport teaches me so much on a daily basis. I work out three to four times a week and every time I am at the gym I run between 4 to 6 miles (sometimes a little more but I try my very best not to go under 4). There are some nights where I feel I could run forever and my mind and body are in complete unison. Those nights are pretty joyous for lack of a better word. Those nights inspire me and motivate me. Those nights shout loud and clear that my determination and hard work is paying off. However, there are some nights that really are just complete torture. My mind and body fight the entire time. Most of the time the fighting starts even before I get to the gym. I let different things discourage me. I let my
2 comments
Read more

Loving the Mirror

Confidence? There was a time  when confidence was evident in every area of my life. I truly believed I was beautiful just the way God made me and I truly believed He had a special plan  designed just for me . Living life back then was so much easier; so much simpler. Of course there were obstacles along the way,  hard  choices that needed to be made, and sometimes life was confusing… but my confidence in God and His plan outweighed anything else. I honestly though t my confidence would only grow the older I became; I thought I  would always love the way God made me  (I mean there is only one  me… that is pretty incredible).   I never imagined I would wake up one morning and  hate  what I saw in the mirror. Not me… not the girl who  personally  knows  the One who made her. It is kind of crazy for me to even think I lost sight of were true confidence resides.  A little shameful if I’m honest, but  the choice to grow and overcome weaknesses only comes when we are willing to adm
1 comment
Read more

The Right Person Matters

My children are superior to many things when it comes to stripping any amount of pride I may have lingering in my parenting skills. They surpass all the failed speeches I ever gave, all the embarrassing falls, all the horribly missed basketball shots, all the uncomfortable doctor appointments, and all the awkward moments I have found myself in. Their innate ability to turn into Jekyll and Hide at any given moment makes them top dog when it comes to bringing me (as their mom) to my knees. Braden has always been scared to death of the doctor’s office, shots, or anything that makes him in any way feel uncomfortable. He literally turns into the Hulk and it usually takes the nurse and I to restrain him for his shots. I knew this at an early age so I thought we should wait to take him to the dentist’s office until he was older. Although my intentions were good… This was definitely a huge mistake. Anyway, Braden’s first dentist appointment was a total train wreck. In all honesty, at on
1 comment
Read more