How to have peace that never leaves

How do we receive Gods peace in a way that it can never leave?

We live a world that is filled with so many unknowns. Uncertainty. Pain. How do we stay rooted in peace?

And from that place of peace experience Gods love and joy?

This week as we were getting ready to go to school, one of my little ones had an accident.

There was blood all over her little face.

I scooped her up and wept as I held her tiny face. Breathing and trying to see where the blood was coming from as she screamed out in pain.

I asked for my oldest daughter to call my husband who had just left for work, as my Mama held my sweet girl.

She had tripped and fell into a little chair that was left upside down in our school room.

As we continued to hold one another and the blood began to dry I saw it had just missed her eye.

I felt completely heartbroken for her and also incredibly thankful for Gods protection over her little eyes.

My husband received the call from a very panicked and upset Mama. Was Gods peace present in this moment?

Lean in, yes.

Even in this heartbreaking moment when everything felt like it was spinning out of control, we felt Gods nearness and His peace.

As we reflected on the event we saw clearly Gods kindness to draw us close together.

I am often left undone by His ability to take something that is scary and painful, and turn it into comfort and peace.

Our running to our sweet girl. My oldest daughter comforting her other little sister who saw all of the blood and ran out of the room screaming.

Yes, even in this incredibly painful moment Gods peace was with us. This is the second post in the PEACE series, I am sharing with you this month.

Digging deeper into what it means to have peace, even in unknowns, even in pain. Even here.

So often in my life, the life of the people around me, we battle guilt, shame and condemnation over the ways we respond or react to certain situations.

Often the way we react has a lot to do with our upbringing and the way our brain has been wired. Or living through very painful situations.

No one is immune from experiencing pain.

Does your brain lean towards anxiety too?

In difficult situations my brain tends to lean into anxiety.

I have to make a conscious effort some days when life feels too heavy to not give way to anxious thoughts that plague my mind.

I remind myself of what I know to be true.

God is at work, rewiring and healing my brain from years of trauma.

The kindness of God in all of this is that He has been training us to respond differently from the moment He called us by name.

Rewiring our brains. Transforming us into the image of His Son.

When we don’t respond well, guilt whispers, “you’ll never change” “I thought you trusted God, if you truly trusted God than you wouldn’t be dealing with anxiety.”

“You must not have any faith because if you did, you wouldn’t be crying right now.”

These are real life examples that have kept me from The Throne Room of God.

Lean in with me, grab your bible and head to Romans 8, read the first verse with me,

“There is therefore now, no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.”

Who is it the condemns? Who accuses us?

Revelations 12:10-11

“Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, “Now salvation, and strength, and the Kingdom of Our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down. And they overcame him by the blood of the lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death…”

There is one who accuses, one who condemns. The one who speaks lies is a liar from the beginning. He is the father of lies.

Sister, it is a scheme of the enemy to keep us locked in patterns of guilt, shame and condemnation.

When we feel badly over the way we reacted, when we were in a scary situation we have an opportunity to run to Father, to sit with Him, to inquire of Him. To lament before Him.

God has help for us

Him we can ask for help.

We read in Hebrews 4:14-16,

“Seeing that we have a great Hight Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points temped as we are, and yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

Sister, I cannot encourage you enough to take a pen and paper and begin to annotate your bible.

It is okay if you don’t want to write on your physical bible you can copy whole books of the bible and print them out and you can annotate this way.

Our High Priest Jesus, understands what it is like for us here on the earth. He understands better than anyone how challenging and painful life can be.

His heart is not hardened to our cries. He bends low and listens. He comforts and inclines His ear.

Let’s say, you did react horribly, and you yelled at your children because they did something dangerous and that made you feel afraid.

Sister, shame says, “I thought you were a Christian, yet, look at you yelling at your kids.”

God say’s “Come here, lets learn a better way.”

The truth is, if we have a wrong view of God. A wrong belief about His Nature than of course it makes sense that we would not want to approach His throne of grace and mercy.

If we believe God to be harsh and ruling with an iron fist, than every single time we mess up it only builds a stronger case in our minds as to why we need to keep our distance from God.

The very One who can help us to respond better. The One who knows us best and loves us the most.

Him, by default, we run from, because we believe He will not forgive us.

“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us, our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9

If we will but incline our ears to His Word than we would know that He is the most merciful, and loving God.

He desires for us to walk in nearness with Him.

In fact He uses the word, Abide in John 15. To stay. To remain. To receive our very life from Him.

This week as I wept while holding my daughter, Fathers comfort and peace was near.

He wasn’t angry with me because I didn’t start praising Him first.

He met me exactly where I was. In the middle of the mess. As the blood was still flowing. He held me close. And whispered, It’s going to be okay.

Even before I knew it was going to be okay.

He doesn’t rush us sister. Unlike me He isn’t in a hurry to move me from where I currently am, to where He will bring me.

No, in fact His Word say’s, The work He has for us to do has been from the foundation of the earth. Ephesians 2:10

I can tell you that the earth is groaning for us to realize who we are in Christ. Gods children. Heirs of an eternal promise.

Sister, if we grasped this truth, we would be running to God, instead of from Him when we make mistakes.

When we sin.

This week I would love for you to sit in Romans 8 with me. Print it out, here.

Grab a highlighter and a pen and start reading it out loud. Listening to the fullness of the passage.

Allowing His truth to infiltrate any wrong beliefs we may be carrying around.

It is a glorious passage.

I pray that it brings you hope and life as you read with me all the more how much God loves us and how readily available His Spirit is to us.

Dwelling within us.

Conclusion:

I cannot recommend Mr. Jamie Winships book enough. I am almost done with it. It has been a soothing balm in this season of walking through grief.

This was the very first video I listened to. It was beautiful and just what I needed to hear. I pray it is a blessing to you as well.

Especially as we continue to journey with God.

There is no more worthwhile pursuit than for us to seek God with our whole being.

yessi argabright

Sister, if we have Him, we have it all.

Thank you so much for reading. I pray this message was a blessing to you. May it be a soothing balm over your heart.

If this message has blessed you, would you let me know in the comments. I love hearing your thoughts and seeing your messages.

Truly such a gift that you read and share what Father places on my heart week after week.

Many blessings and Fathers love.

Thank you for being here. As always remember you can also find me on Facebook.