My house looks like McDonald’s. No, I don’t have arches and I’m not making french fries or apple pies. Part of my house is in total disarray, yet I didn’t even notice until I was Skyping a podcast interview and glanced past my own reflection to the wall -kinda yellow and red striped. I’ll tell you the rest of the long story later, but it all started with the toilet Suffice it to say, everything in my life is in limbo which is a special kind of torture for people like me. But if I can find calm in the chaos, so can you.
ARE YOU OKAY?
My friends are worried. Seriously, I’m afraid something is wrong with me too because I have no right to feel this way. I am okay. Really, I shouldn’t be, but I am. My eyelids open before the sun rises and surprisingly I sleep all night and wake to feel the warmth of peace deep in my soul. Well, at least most days I do.
Philippians 4:7, “and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Jesus Christ.” NKJV
GRACE
My superwoman cape is at the cleaners this week. I gave myself a break. Double digit voice mails and text messages went unreturned (sorry about that). My inbox is full of unread messages and fortunately most of my bills are autopay or I would be paying late fees. At the last minute, I bailed on my parents to travel to Cajun country for family Easter, uncharacteristic behavior for an over-achieving perfectionist who thinks she can do it all. This new coping technique is grace to self.
We always need grace, sometimes we need to give it to ourselves #grace Click To TweetWithout it I don’t think I could function. Honestly, after the brutality of the last nine days I’m still trying to figure out what day of the week it is. In fact when I recorded my podcast, I got the month wrong. Sorry, I checked out of life for a while and now it’s time to check back in, if I can stay calm in the chaos.
Matthew 11:29, “Learn the unforced rhythms of grace.” MSG
TRUST
My dear friend took both of my hands in hers to pray one of my favorite prayers,
Dear Father we thank you that you knew exactly what was going to happen today before we ever got out of bed
Calm in chaos is rooted in trust. Do you trust God with whatever today holds? Get over that hurdle, then there’s tomorrow. I know God loves me, knows what is best for me and knows the end of the story and I certainly don’t. I don’t even know if I’ll continue to live in this home that’s been wrecked in more ways than one, but God does and He is trustworthy, all the time. My guest on “My Journey of Faith Radio“ this week brought tears to my eyes when she reminded me of the truths she reminds herself:
- God’s grace is sufficient
- It’s not about me
Yeah, that. I needed a reminder too
ON THE RUN
While some are worried about me, others see joy that doesn’t match my circumstances and they know why. It’s because I run. I’m not running from my problems, I’m running to the arms of my Heavenly Father because if I take my eyes off of His sufficiency for one second I quickly come to the end of myself. Anyone know how that feels?
We can compare notes if you want. Bless your heart if you’ve had a week like mine. If your life is in chaos and you feel like running away, start running to your Heavenly Father. And when God seems far away remember, He’s probably not the one who moved.
James 4:8, “Come close to God, and God will come close to you…” NLT
There’s more to this verse, but you probably ought to read it for yourself. That’s what I’m going to do because when I wrote this I felt it, but now I need a refresher.
Calm in the chaos, how I need to keep my eyes on Jesus in the middle of the storm. Thank you for being honest and open about your storms. I see GOD’S GLORY AND YOUR GOOD.
Thank you for speaking truth into my life. Your words always seep in to my messages
God”s grace is sufficient. I use to to think that meant his grace was just about adequate and it was all I was getting, so get on with life because that was all I had to work with so be thankful….I was sooooo wrong in my thinking.
His grace is far more than a just made it over the line sufficient kind of Sufficient. It abounds in quality and quantity….it really is full of boundless supply.
Abundantly, exceedingly more! I needed to hear that
I recalling seeing one time: God’s grace IS sufficient. The focus is now. Not someday, not soon, not eventually but IS. His grace is now and always and IS sufficient. Just that word reminds me. Sometimes I just think IS!
Really enjoyed your description of God’s peace in the morning. Thanks for sharing your heart!
I will think of emphasis on the IS every time I read that verse
Hi Vickie, how are you?
Thanks for putting this together. Sometimes we fail to admit we are not okay when we know we are not. It’s ok to call a friend to pray for you, listen to you and share the burden.
I appreciate this so much.
Hearty Blessings to you.
Thanks so much. Great to connect
We can’t really make it without our Lord and Father. That is why this was my best part of your post: “I run. I’m not running from my problems, I’m running to the arms of my Heavenly Father”. His strength is indeed made perfect in weakness. Thanks a lot for visiting me earlier. I really appreciate. You are blessed!
Thanks you. Glad to connect
He knows all of our lives and that’s such a comfort…He’s already there to help us over the hard parts. I like your friend’s prayer: “Dear Father we thank you that you knew exactly what was going to happen today before we ever got out of bed.” Visiting from purposefulfaith’s raralinkup
My friend is a special lady. Glad to connect