Perfect Peace

Hello!

I probably have about 55 blog posts with this exact title.

You know why?

We all want peace.

Not in the hippie, tie-dye, bell-bottom craze kind of way...

Not shallow peace that satisfies for a moment...

But the real deal kind of peace. The peace that surpasses all understanding. Peace that exceeds our expectations. Peace that doesn't even seem possible in the unexpected curve balls of life. Peace that sinks down into the depths of your soul and fills every nook & cranny of your heart. All of the dark places that you aren't even aware of... peace that fills even those.

I write about peace because it is always relevant.

It is always a desire... and the world always tries to steal it.

Peace is something that we must fight for.

It doesn't just HAPPEN.

"Turn from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it." (Psalm 34:14, 1 Peter 3:11)

SEEK peace. PURSUE peace.
This is not a passive pursuit; it requires ACTION and intentionality.

If you pursue peace in anything other than God, you will be sorely disappointed.
At least in the long run.

Peace is a result of ABIDING in Jesus. (John 15)
It is a by-product - or fruit - of walking in step with the Spirit of God (Galatians 5).



Love these prints by French Press Mornings

Trusting in the Lord leads to perfect peace. Keeping my mind - my thoughts & emotions - fixed on Him leads to stability. My desire to control and plan out every moment of my life, leads to frustration and craziness. It's about surrendering every moment... every wish, desire of the heart, fear and uncertainty, to the only One who is CERTAIN in this life. It's about simply letting go, in order to fully love... in order to LIVE LIFE with the complete JOY that God intends.

Worry and fear steal joy, but God promises peace to those who trust in Him!

I am so thankful for PEACE today. :)

Summa' Lovin'

My friends and I thought that we would want to go downtown and celebrate surviving the semester at the end of finals week. It sounded great, but in reality, I would be perfectly content if I didn't have to leave my bed for the next 12.5 days. My sleep schedule has been completely thrown off the last two weeks.

Also, I've worn yoga pants ever since finishing my last final.
This is merely a part of the semester end recovery process.
Don't judge me...

I heard a friend say yesterday that even though classes are over, her list of things to do hasn't seemed to decrease AT ALL. I can relate. It's more like, "Oh hey, now that school isn't completely consuming my life, I can actually turn my attention to every other area of my life that has been ignored to some degree or another for the last 16 weeks."

For example, I just remembered that I have a gym membership. Guess I should dust off my running shoes and get back at it!

Also, I better take advantage of being able to sleep as much as I possibly can NOW, because when I'm in Panama... let's just say, sleep is not guaranteed. Those darn roosters. :)

Neither is coffee. I need to use my time wisely... and spend approximatly 85% of it in coffee shops. ;-)

As a Communication and English major I do quite a bit of reading and writing throughout the course of a semester. (probably more than I even realize!) The difference for the next 14 weeks is that I get to read and write WHATEVER I WANT!!! I'm beside myself with excitment at the thought of this! Where will I even start?!

Another exciting thing about summer is... extensive TRAVELING. Love it! Portland, OR, Billings, MT, Dallas, TX, and Panama City, Panama + San Blas islands and Darien jungle are all on my list of destinations. So excited!

Oh, and I plan on doing a lot of hiking, hammack-ing, organizing my overflowing closet, filling up my journal, camping, sitting by the river, catching up with mis amigas, and brushing up on my espanol.

Summer is wonderful! So glad to have another semester under my belt... and only 5 more classes to go to finish up my college career!

After that, who wants to pay me to sit in a coffee shop and blog all day??!

Faith for the {Moment}

Sure, I can have faith for my life as a whole. I have faith in who God is and that He calls me His daughter. I have faith that Good always overcomes evil, and we are victorious in the end. 

But what about the details? Every day kinda stuff? The crazy mess of making decisions that effect a lifetime? What about today?

I've noticed that it's easier for me to say, "God I give you my life," but I'm more hesitant to say, "God, today is yours." It's harder to trust Him in the little details when I can't see the big picture.

I'm learning right now what it means to trust the Lord with TODAY, 
and not worry about tomorrow... or a year from now.

"You will keep in perfect peace 
those whose minds are steadfast, 
because they trust in You."
 [Isaiah 26:3]

All I know is what is in front of me right now. 
I can't make decisions based on what COULD be...
(aka - the imaginary situations I make up in my head) 
... Or what I think SHOULD be.
(aka - the imaginary expectations I assume are there)

The Holy Spirit guides step-by-step, but we often don't get the low-down on exactly where we're going, why we're going there, and when we're leaving. In my experience, I know just enough to chew on it for a while, let it settle, and then get a new piece of the vision as time goes on. 

"Your Word is a lamp for my feet,
a light on my path."
[Psalm 119:105]

A lamp to see where to take just the next step. 

When I take my thoughts captive and filter out all of the worry, fear, condemnation, anxiety, all that is left is faith for the moment. 
[2 Corinthians 10:4-5 + Philippians 4:8-9]

I trust that He will lead me to take the next faith step, at the right time that I need to take it. Until then, I enjoy the moment that He has set before me.  

Have You Found the Formula?

Even after the realization that I am constantly on the search for the great big formula of life (Not the math kind. I hate math. More like rules.), which has never been a fruitful search, I still find myself back in the same place. I understand that any formulas that may exist in the areas of life that I look for them (pretty much everything) are not grounded in truth and therefore, ineffective.
Nonetheless, I still search...

A formula for how to help a friend in the midst of crisis. A formula for balancing ministry and taking care of myself. A formula for finding my identity in Christ and not any other person or thing. A formula for making decisions - big or small.

A formula for the perfect coffee to creamer ratio... okay, I guess this last one will just come with practice.

Basically, I want to do the right thing and I want somebody to tell me exactly how to do it. It's the whole uncertainty factor that makes me nervous.

What if I do something wrong? What if what I end up doing is not what God intends?

What if.... whatif...whatifwhatifwhatif.

These "what ifs" drive me crazy. [Anybody with me?!]

It is this uncertainty factor that requires FAITH. 

If I was certain about the outcome of every decision and the exactly perfect path for my life, then where would my need for a Savior come in? Why would I need to depend on the Lord?

I love coming to that place where I've done all I can do. I've got nothing else to give. I'm at the end of myself, and I am forced to rely on God. I'm reminded again that I do not have all the answers, nor am I expected to. That frantic moment of: "BUT I JUST DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO!!!"

The formula is that there is no formula. At least not the kind I seem to be looking for.

There are definitely guidelines, though.

Love God. Love others. [Matthew 22:37]

Doesn't get much more basic than that!

Everything else falls into place.

"When we play it safe, we squeeze God out of the formula. If we go only where we know and do what we're certain will succeed, we remove our need for God. Whenever we respond to God's invitation, our need for God becomes heightened. Whenever we take on a God-sized challenge, self-sufficiency is no longer an option." Chasing Daylight, Erwin McManus (p. 82)

"One of the wonders of uncertainty is that it is the environment in which God invites us to be creative." (McManus p. 77)

"He promises we can be certain about who He is and we can be certain about our relationship in Him, but how the journey plays out is full of uncertainties - the end of the story is not, though." (McManus p. 73) Praise the Lord!!!

The WORD

You know, sometimes you just need to let TRUTH speak for itself.

"My son, if you accept my words and store up my commands within you,

turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding,

and if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding,

and it you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure,

then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God.

 

For the Lord gives wisdom, and from his mouth come
knowledge and understanding.

He holds victory in store for the upright, he is a shield to those
whose walk is blameless, for he guards the course of the just and
protects the way of his faithful ones.

Then you will understand what is
right and just and fair - every good path.

For wisdom will enter your heart, and
knowledge will be pleasant to your soul.

Discretion will protect you, and
understanding will guard you."

 

Proverbs 2:1-11

 

Ever wonder about "God's plan for your life" or what direction you should take?

Abide in HIM and He will give you wisdom. He will "guard your course" and "protect your way." Call out for insight & search for wisdom... "then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God."

 

I'm completely convinced that everything we keep looking for and striving for will either COME or become INSIGNIFICANT as we learn to abide more and more fully in God. 

Relevant Mag Article: "The Myth of Perfect Dating"

Check out: "The Myth of Perfect Dating"

I have a lot of catching up to do in response to all of these awesome articles I keep finding! :)

For now, just wanted to post it to share...

I'm still preoccupied with writing about other random things for school. The past four days have been about gang violence in schools, the next four days will be on the Appalachia English dialect, and the following five days will be about the book Nervous Conditions and the effect of colonialism in Zimbabwe.

Apparently I am going to leave college with a ton of random knowledge. :)

Have a great day, friends! I can feel the nearness of summer where I will sit in coffee shops and write 'til my little hearts content, about the things that I want to write about! Glorious.

Some thoughts for this Friday afternoon...

I'm thinking about quite a few things today, but they are too scattered to sufficiently produce a coherent single-subject post. Thus, my favorite: a list. A quick update for you & a release of my desperate need to just write something. Scratch that, I have a whole heck of a lot of writing to do... but it all revolves 

1. I love that it's Friday today, but I will REALLY love Wednesday the 15th at about 7:00 pm even better because by that point I will be completely done with school for three whole months! I could cry, I'm so excited. 16 pages to write, give or take a few.

2. REI garage sale this Saturday. Hoping to score some cheap chacos and gear for Panama! Bring it!

3. I posted a link to an interesting article from Relevant Magazine on Facebook a couple days ago called "Stop Waiting For Him to Ask You Out." I merely shared the article and asked for thoughts, which brought in a number of responses! I enjoyed reading through everyone else's thoughts and look forward to writing my own thoughts in response to the article. If you haven't read the article, I recommend it! And check back soon-ish for a post HERE about how it challenged what I grew up thinking about relationships, which tended to be more rule-driven and included a lot of fear. 

4. I'm feeling thankful for God's provision, as even when - especially - when I have no plan, He continues to work. His faithfulness endures, even when I fail. It is good for my heart to rest in His promises and grow in the confidence that HE is my provider. My ability to pay bills or fund a mission trip or raise a team of monthly supporters or finish college, actually has nothing to do with my ability at all. If that were the case, none of these things would happen. 

5. I'm excited to chat with my co-leader for Panama in a few minutes and start discussing plans for our team this summer!!! I can't wait to finally be done with school so that preparations for Panama can take a higher priority. 

6. I was reminded this week of Casey Johnson's definition of guarding your heart that has stuck with me for several years. "Guarding your heart" is essentially not allowing your thoughts to go farther than he has led. Meaning, if he says "Thanks for being my friend," you don't translate that to "Will you be my wife?" I know it sounds ridiculous, but let's just be real... it happens. There is beauty in simply living in the moment and enjoying the HERE and NOW, without getting all worked up about the would-be's and could-be's. Quit over thinking. Quit analyzing. Just accept joy for TODAY as a sweet gift from the Lord.