Do you want Peace in Your Life?

“Do you want Peace in Your Life?” This is what the Lord seemed to be asking me, today, as I listened to a Daily Devotional I try to hear each morning when I get up.  I put it on the computer and then listen while doing the “early morning, getting ready for my day,” type of stuff.  HERE is the link to the one I listened to today.

It talked about the belligerence that seems to be getting more and more common… road rage, etc. and what God says I can do about it to have peace in MY heart as I walk through this life.  He uses and IF – THEN statement.  This is common terminology in the computer world…  IF such and such happens, THEN this will happen.

The verses that “Our Daily Bread” gave are found in Philippians 4:4-9. (Scripture below) First, it says to Rejoice in the Lord, ALWAYS.  I thought, that means for me to keep my eyes on Him so that I can see all that He has done, and IS doing in my life… the blessings I have.  Each time I focus on those blessings, I can rejoice.

The next verse says to be gentle (that’s the only way others will see that gentleness IN me), and I CAN do that if I KNOW that He is “at hand,” and right there with me.

Then God tells me to not worry, but to be talking to Him constantly about everything… asking, and thanking Him because I know He is faithful to answer in the ways that are BEST for me.  That CAN mean “wait for HIS perfect timing…” but trust that He knows what is best better than I know what is best for me.  I am His child and like a little child that wants candy and THINKS that is BEST for him/her, the parent really knows what is best and that might be candy as a treat, but generally, it is more like vegetables or fruit. (Pout!)

IF I am constantly in communication with Him, AND trusting Him to be working everything out for my BEST, THEN the Peace of God, in times of crisis will flow over me, so that others that are watching won’t understand it.   This Peace (from a consistent relationship) will guard my heart and mind because I know Christ Jesus is with me.  After all, He loved me enough to pay for MY sins with HIS blood!

Lastly, in verse 8, God tells me that there are things I need to do to help my mind to stay healthy.  Another computer thing is GIGO.  Garbage In, Garbage Out!  I NEED to make sure what goes into my mind is NOT garbage, but things that lead to gentleness and kindness.

I need to put things that are TRUE (what God says is TRUTH), things that are noble, and just and pure into my mind.  Think about lovely, beautiful things and things that are good and happy, and virtuous… things I can Praise God for… THESE are the things I should be filling my mind with most of my day. 

When I see sad and awful things, I need to take them in through my senses, but let them go OUT again through the flow of my mouth and mind and into GOD’S hands, through prayer, because HE can handle them.  He may use me to handle some of them, but He doesn’t want ME to take on the weight of the world, just whatever tasks He gives me, and He promises that those things will be light and not terribly burdensome because He shares the load (taking most of it.)

Yep… He keeps finding ways of reminding me of these things all the time, as I walk this road with Him.  I wish I weren’t so forgetful!  :)

Philippians 4:4-9

New King James Version (NKJV)

⁴ Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice!
⁵ Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand.
⁶ Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; ⁷ and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

Meditate on These Things

  
⁸ Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things. ⁹ The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you.

Joy to the World – Verse 1

A few blogs ago, I mentioned that I'm trying to look at the words of some of the Christmas Hymns and let God speak to me through them... Well, this one has really touched me:

Joy to the World , the Lord is come!

Let earth receive her King;

Let every heart prepare Him room,

And Heaven and nature sing,

And Heaven and nature sing,
And Heaven, and Heaven, and nature sing.

God DID give His Joy to the World that long ago “Christmas” Day. It might NOT have been on December 25th that it happened, but it did happen. God sent HIS son into the world… The one that reigned with Him on high, to live as a human, sharing our joys and pains to truly “walk a mile in our shoes…”

Because Jesus KNOWS all of our problems, temptations, and heart pains… our tiredness, our anger and hurt that makes it hard for us to forgive, and all the rest of our sin, and STILL loves us enough so that He would pay for our sins on that cross, we have a “FREE” ticket into heaven.

Through the gift of His Holy Spirit that comes into our hearts when we repent (turn away from) our sins and become “born again,” we have a way to find peace that passes understanding as we travel through this life.

YES!!! These things should bring us JOY! When each of us accept that gift and acknowledge HIM as our Lord, He HAS come for each of us and we, (now of earth) can receive our King and worship him when we make room for, and have "communion" with Him in our own hearts. (Communion = 1. The act or an instance of sharing, as of thoughts or feelings.
2. Religious or spiritual fellowship)

His Word says that the Angels of Heaven REJOICE when one of us comes to KNOW Him and accept Him. It also says that soon, when He comes back, all of nature that groans now WILL sing with joy just as our Corgis "sing" with joy when they see us coming home, because of the love we share.

Great Books…

I’ve found some new (to me) Christian Authors recently, and I’ve been enjoying their work so much! The newest one is Karen Kingsbury. I’ve seen her name many times in the literature I get as Church Librarian, but recently, someone donated some of her books to the Library, and while checking them over for appropriateness, I’ve gotten totally hooked!

I’m reading the third one in the “Forever Faithful” series, and these books have all be “edge of the seat” stories that it’s almost impossible to lay down! The characters are all totally real with major problems in their or their friend’s lives, but through the faithfulness of God, they come to find that “Peace that passes understanding” in their lives. The first book in this series is, “Waiting for Morning,” and it is about a woman, Hannah, who is filled with anger, hate and overwhelming pain in her life when her husband and her oldest daughter are killed by a drunk driver. Hannah’s youngest daughter, Jenny, who was also in the car, and survived the accident in body, is deeply damaged emotionally.

The story is heart-wrenching and draws the reader in because we have all experienced these emotions from things that have happened in our own lives. Mrs. Kingsbury is an excellent story teller and pulls no punches about real life problems, but leads her readers to see that God is “Forever Faithful,” to be with us, whether or not we are open to Him when we are blinded by life’s difficult circumstances.

I totally recommend this book, for it reminded me again that the people who are the “thorniest” are often so full of pain and anger that they can’t see anything else, and though they may be the hardest to “love,” they need it the most. I need to remember that God wants to love them through me…

Puppies and Rainbows…

I have had so much fun watching Dott’s puppies as they play and learn over the past few weeks. Sure, they take a lot of work, too, but the joy they have brought into my life has made it well worth it.

Ok… so I take pleasure in some of the simple things in life, but letting God take care of my cares, and taking time to smell the roses or watch the Corgis play, makes life so much more satisfying than stressing about things that “may” happen, or things that I can’t do anything about anyway.


That is what is so wonderful about Corgi Country. It is a haven away from traffic, noise, and other sources of stress. I can always turn off the TV and listen to music or even just listen to the birds sing, or the horses munch on their hay. Doing what the Bible says in Matthew 6:34 has become my main philosophy of life I think… At least since I’ve tried to follow it this past year, and it has worked well for me! Essentially, it says to take one day at a time and don’t worry about tomorrow.

After all, I don’t even know if I will be here tomorrow (freak car accident, stray bullet, meteor coming through the ceiling, etc.), and if I’ve taken care of the important things between myself and God, then THAT isn’t a problem, so I need to just do what I need to do each day to keep things in running order.

I need to be careful not to add the world’s problems to my shoulders by feeding my brain depressing stuff I can’t do a thing about anyway… that doesn’t mean not to do my part, like voting intelligently according to my principles, but so many times I sit there and watch T.V. shows that just put junk into my head. Computer people say, “Garbage In, Garbage Out,” when talking about programming a computer, and some of those principles apply to what I allow to go into my brain.


Each day, I try to make an effort to feed my brain good things… things that bring joy and peace, and cut back on things that bring me down. This has been shown, by numerous studies, to lengthen a person’s life, by lowering blood pressure, and the levels of stress hormones in the body that tears it down over time… I try to take a walk with a loved one, or a dog (same thing actually) and really LOOK around. I look at the paintings God has created for me in the sky... I try to look at the rainbows in the diamonds of dew on the leaves, grass or a spider’s web. I watch a comedy or read a funny or uplifting book. I try to feed my brain good things!

I’m taking steps toward a more peaceful way of living each day, and trying to make it my way of life…