Pass the Peace please!

I am a creature of habit.  I usually resist change.  But then there are instances where I am desperate for it…or in desperate need of it.  God has been working overtime on my heart this past year.  I am glad that he works OT.  God = 24/7 Support, 365 days a year.  I marvel at how quietly he speaks to me.  Will you pray with me?  I love talking to God…and guess what…he LOVES it when we do.  He desires fellowship with us, so let’s talk to him together.  I will type my prayer and then I encourage you to take a little minute and pray with me…

God, the words before and after lose their meaning when I contemplate who you are.  You encompass all time and time is not a restriction for you.  You don’t see me in a straight line.  You see everything I am, and it is laid out before you…RONDA.  When I put all my energy into concentrating on you my mind blows up with awe.  You are the God of ALL creation!  And you know my name!  Your grace and gentle spirit amaze me.  I am so grateful to have you as a Father, as a Counselor, as a Friend.  You are my support system.  Thank you so much for everything that you have blessed me with.  Help me to be responsible, and respectful.  Thank you for my wonderful husband Sam. Thank you for giving me a husband that is a friend, who respects me, and cherishes me.  Thank you for my little boys and that with each day that passes Kael is learning more words and his issues are fading to a thing of the past.  Please take all the symptoms of his sensory processing disorder away from him, let it be a memory far removed, and a platform of rejoicing.  Allow his little mind to grow to the capacity that you designed it to.  Thank you for Caleb, my noodle.  Thank you that he has such a sweet personality and is friendly to everyone he meets.  You have blessed me, and I am so grateful.  I pray for my friend Brittany Lord.  Thank you for giving her favor, and a quick answer to our prayers this morning. We pray that you will place a hedge of protection around her and her family.  We pray that any symptoms of sickness stop, and that you bring healing to their bodies.  You have won the Victory.  We praise you and thank you and love you so much!   I will praise you and thank you with my mouth all day. I will do my best not to gripe anymore; because I don’t want your praise to share space with a gripe.  I love you!

[Your Turn]

I started to write this out yesterday, and then it seemed endless the places that God gave me to use it…Stress is everywhere…it is an epidemic!

It is so easy to get caught up in a web of self consideration.  I considered myself considerably over the last few days *window to my world*.  Ok, raise your hand if you have stress.

That’s what I thought.

If you didn’t raise your hand, then you are a liar.

Just kidding.  If you don’t have stress that is awesome!  You must be the most faithful person on the planet and give all your cares to God right from the get-go.  If this is you…I am slightly jealous.  I either forget to take it to God, or more stupidly, I willfully neglect to take it to God so that I can whine and cry about it.  If I take it to God right away what am I going to have to stress and whine about?!?  Exactly.

You see, I fully trust God and I know how capable he is.  He is like the best problem solver EVER.  Even if that problem is me!  *OUCH, burn!* He will fix it/me if I ask him. So if I trust God 100%, why is it then I don’t fully rely on him?

I am always stressing about stuff.  Work, church, money, wasting energy and our ridiculous electric bill, is the house clean? Are the boys “normal”?  Are we truly in Gods will?!? How will we know?  Like I said…it is an epidemic, and I caught a highly resistant strain.

Let me share with you a one of my recent run-ins with this pesky critter stress. I am a Home Mortgage Lender. The day before yesterday…an average day in my crazy life, I had two loans totaling over half a million dollars jump ship.  Bam!  One was just a day before closing, but my customers got a blessing straight from God and didn’t need the loan anymore…it was so out of the blue I know it can only be a blessing from God for them.  So I was ok with losing that loan…and the commissions that went buh-bye right along with it.  The other loan I lost was due to a bummer of an appraisal report.  I watched as month’s worth of work, and reams of printed paper and reports become meaningless.  Instead of being deals, now they were just paper to shred. Lots and Lots of paper.

But you know what?  God gave me this job, and he has blessed me with every file I have, and he is still blessing me despite these losses.  So what do I have to fear?

When I give all my problems to God and I take a breath he is faithful, and he ALWAYS provides.  He might not provide what I ask him for right there, right then, in that very moment.  Let me just say that how you ask matters, and what you ask matters.

From the word we can see very clearly that God likes to be considered in your considering.  He wants to help you!  He wants to be a part of your life.

Trust in the LORD with all your heart; and do not depend on your own understanding.  Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take. Proverbs 3:5-6

God wants to bless us, but all too often we ask him for stuff with the wrong mindset…Purify us God, let us know that we come before the throne of the KING, and that you see us through and through.  Let us behave accordingly.  Let us consider your will and allow you to direct us.

You do not have because you do not ask God.  When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with the wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.  James 4: 2-3.

Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. (!!! I felt like it should have exclamations) What is your life? You are a mist that appears a little while then vanishes.  Instead you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.”  James 4: 13-15

Snapper turtle that is good word!  Convicting, but with such great promise!

1^st Peter 5:7 says: Turn all your anxiety over to God because he cares for you.

Cast your burden on the LORD and he will sustain you; He will never allow the righteous to be moved. Psalms 55:22

And my all time favorite!!! Drum roll for Jesus!............

These things I have spoken to you, so that in ME you may have peace.  In the world you will have tribulation (big troubles), but take courage; I have overcome the world. ~John 16:33

Mercy!  Doesn’t that just feel good!  Doesn’t it feel amazing to know that God, the creator of everything…loves us enough to think of every detail?!?  Come on, Gravity…hello!  He is awesome.  And the details he thought of…AWESOME!  White blood cells (awesome), honey bees (awesome), ocean tides (awesome), kittens (awesome), gustatory cells (awesome)!!! I am sure glad I have gustatory cells…you probably are too.

God wants to be a part of our lives.  He has poured so much of himself into us and has done so much for us.  We are but a vapor…a mist…And our cares and concerns are too.  But they will consume us if we don’t relinquish control.  If you have stress don’t just trust God, rely on him.

My friend Gail Reichelt collects frogs because of the acronym F.R.O.G. Fully Rely On God.

You know…this is easier to say then do.

If you find yourself chronically stressed, overloaded, fatigued, depressed, underappreciated, over self-examined, anxious, aging like it’s going out of style, constantly griping, an overachiever when it comes to whining…might be time to do a spirit check.  Whew…my spirit check almost gave me whiplash!  I gotta be a doer, not just a sayer…just sayin.

What is a spirit check you ask?  Well for me I like to sit in a quiet place and I pray and ask God to search me. I picture it like a search on email when you have to find a buried email and the little flashlight icon sweeps back and forth as it pulls up emails with your ‘keyword.’  Ask God to search you and show you if you have ends to be tied, or sin to be dealt with.  Ask him to help you make the conversion from self reliance to God reliance.  Through prayer and daily applying the word, you will be healed of your stress.  It is GOOD medicine! Results guaranteed.  And IT IS FREE!  Good deal.

Oh God, SEARCH ME!  Know my thoughts.  If there is anything in me that is displeasing to you, help me!  Show it to me and give me the strength and the wisdom to deal with it, right then, right there, no hesitation.  Forgive me for being stubborn, forgive me for being prideful, forgive me for being self-centered.  Thank you for working tireless on me.  It is not in vain.  You are greatly appreciated.  Thank you for interacting with me and answering my prayers.  It brings tremendous peace and immeasurable joy to know that you listen.  And the weight of my anxieties get lifted off, and I can breathe easy.  You get me…and you got me.

It is amazing what peace can do…he is peace.

And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:7

And all Gods people say...AMEN!

Sometimes you just have to take a break, doesn't mean you stop multi-tasking...

And who could be stressed when you have lips like this to kiss?  Not me!

xoxo,

Ronda