and its name is Patience. I have spent so many years trying to run my life on my own timetable, and being a complete control freak, that I have lost all perspective when it comes to practicing patience. I've lost sight of the art of being still and waiting patiently for God to work in my life. My inability to control everything manifests itself in worry - which has got to be the most counter-productive activity known to man. I woke up this morning, after a fitful night's sleep, determined to just let my worries go. What's one more day in the big scheme of things, I told myself. I spent some time paging through my old Living Bible which I haven't really used since college and my discovery of the New International Version. Seek and ye shall find. The words I needed to read were all right there in front of me. I just had to stop, breathe and be still.
Let Him have all your worries and cares, for He is always thinking about you and watching everything that concerns you. I Peter 5:7
I am leaving you with a gift - peace of mind and heart! And the peace I give isn't fragile like the peace the world gives. So don't be troubled or afraid.
John 14:27
Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything; tell God your needs, and don't forget to thank Him for His answers. If you do this, you will experience God's peace, which is far more wonderful than the human mind can understand. His peace will keep your thoughts and your hearts quiet and at rest as you trust in Christ. Phillippians 4:6-7
Fear Not, for I am with you. Do not be dismayed. I am your God. I will strengthen you; I will help you; I will uphold you with My victorious right Hand. Isaiah 41:10
And we know that all that happens to us is working for our good if we love God and are fitting into His plans. Romans 8:28
I know all these things. I have known them in my heart since I was a little girl. But sometimes I try to move one seat over and try to do things my way and go off in the direction I want to go. When I read these words this morning, for probably the thousandth time, I felt the same familiar comfort they always bring. I need to stay in that comfort zone - and stop trying to create my own.
A worthy goal - but a daily struggle.
What a powerful post!! Romand 8:28 is my life verse. I Peter 5:7 is a true favorite of mine!
ReplyDeleteI have no earthly idea why the life of faith is so hard for us.....but keep hanging in there. God is holding you UP! And I for one am on your side and praying FOR and thinking OF Y.O.U.
I agree, Dawn, that it is so difficult to have patience when we think we see the route to go and are ready to pounce -- we simply feel we should just go for it. Yet we know that God's perfect timing will always work to our benefit.
ReplyDeleteI am so often in awe of God's insistence. For example, oh how I did NOT want to go to church this past Saturday night. I had other more "important" things to do in my mind. I also knew in my heart that I needed God's message to speak to me and try as hard as I could God was NOT going to let me off the hook. I even started dinner, set the table, realizing that if I went to church I would have to leave right in the middle of the preparations and what a mess that would be. Well, God's was not going to allow me to stay home. He insisted that I go and for a good reason. The message that the pastor spoke -- well, it was as though it had been written with me in mind. Everything was said to my benefit and I left the church with renewed vigor toward the current mission God has assigned me. Oh praise God that His will is strong and He pushed me out the door (haha).
I missed a decent dinner, yet gained a tremendous perspective on serving one another.
I think that this post is a bit off topic from what you wrote, yet the message is similar in that God's word brings comfort and direction to our lives. How God must shake his head in wonder as we zip around back and forth trying to make it all work, when we simply need to sit down and read or hear His Word and see how God is already taking care of us. What a mighty God He is.
I just read your post, I haven't been keeping up. Don't know whats going on, but what you to know I will be adding you to my prayers, and I am a big, BIG believer in the power of prayer.
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