"And now dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. ....Then the God of peace will be with you. " Philippians 4:8,9
I'm in the middle of a Bible study at church called Me, Myself and Lies by Jennifer Rothschild. This study has zeroed in on my #1 struggle....my thoughts. They are my constant companion and mostly consist of judgements, labels, insecurities and lies. And it seems that since I began this study, Satan has been putting extra muscle behind his attacks on my mind. I think he realizes that if God can cause a breakthrough in this area, and restore my thoughts to love, truth, and peace, then he has lost his most valuable tool in my destruction. So before I go on, please if you think of it, pray for me in this struggle. I cannot be too proud or naive to think that asking for prayer in this area wouldn't greatly improve my chances at victory.
One thing I've found myself doing a lot lately is engaging in a frantic list of things I need. I need yoga! I need a massage! I need someone to watch Wesley a few hours a week. I need more dates with Brian. I need more time by myself. Now none of these things are wrong or invalid. In fact, at some level, I really do want them all. But the whole and sum reason behind all of them is to attain a peace that I so strongly desire. It's like I feel my shoulders crunched up to my ears and I'm trying to find anything that will cause me to feel relaxed, whole, and at peace. Last night, in the middle of a meltdown, I started upon this list again...trying to think which items I could attain the fastest and my plan for getting them. And I felt God tell me: I am your peace. Nothing will give you the feeling that you are looking for but Me.
Skip with me ahead to this morning as I settled in to my Bible study. One of the first verses I was told to look up was Philippians 4:8. And I instantly knew God was so right, and I was so wrong. He is always looking out for me and trying to show me what is best for me. Not only does he know how badly I need to rearrange my thought closet, but he even tells me in the end it will give me peace! Peace, peace, how badly I desire you! After I heard God talk to me last night, I even had this vision of me putting up scriptures all over the house to make myself see, remember, and think about His Word. I mean, what else out there is pure, lovely, true, and excellent? Nothing with those characteristics bombards me daily. Nothing. In fact, quite the opposite. So today I begin the proactive task of surrounding myself with His truths and promises so that the God of peace will be with me.
God is not a liar. He wouldn't tell me that fixing my thoughts on truth and love will give me peace if it won't. So I'm believing Him, and taking captive the icky thoughts in my mind. I'll hopefully have stories of victory to share with you as time moves on. :)
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Peace
Posted by April Spicer at 9/24/2009 08:11:00 AM
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6 comments:
I love this post today. That is also something I struggle with. I think Jarrod may even be struggling with it a little himself right now. It seems like we are both in a bit of a fog. Things just keep happening and everytime we get to where we're on the right track things spiral off the track again. Thanks for the post. I will definitely be praying for you
I understand, friend. For me, I call it "twirling". When my head is so full of things that I can't see straight and I almost can't think rationally. The only thing that seems to help is to sit down and write out a prayer. For some reason, forcing myself to slow down enough to physically write the prayer out, helps to order my thoughts better and not just let them swirl uncontrollable in my head. I wish I were better at doing this everyday, I would probably be a much calmer person.
Anyways, I'll be writing your name down when I'm praying these things for myself as well. Perfectly timed post.
Exactly! Last week I made a huge poster and put it on my kitchen cabinet that says, "Am I believing God or calling him a liar?" Uh-huh, I wrote it and it is inspiring! Because, He is truth. I also started replacing all the bible verses that were up on the wall at our old house, to the wall in our new one. Bathing your house and family in God's word is only good and refreshing. Makes taking my thoughts captive sooooo much easier.
So excited to hear what God is doing in your life! Miss you!
This is no coincidence, my friend! I feel like you were writing exactly what I have been thinking the past month! Thank you, GOD, for your post to remind me that all I need is Him to rely on. I actually have that Bible Study sitting on my desk right now. I've done 3 days of it, then "life" got in the way. How terrible. Maybe I need it more than I thought!! THANK YOU! Miss you, and love ya!
Definitely one of the things we have the most in common...our thoughts...memories...head cases:). I will for sure be praying for you...I have gone through times like this as well...months on end...and it is a yucky feeling. I will be praying peace for you!
love you
I love that you are surrounding yourself with His truth! Keep sticking those scriptures up! I have a friend who puts scriptures in page protectors in her shower; I keep meaning to do that.
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