As I shared with you last week, during my time of recovery I
have come across the book, Calming The
Storm Within: How to Find Peace In This Chaotic World by Jim Lange. This book spoke to me in so many ways, and I
hope something I share with you from it will help your search to have peace no
matter what chaos is swirling around you.
One of Mr. Lange’s statements that jumped out at me was
this:
“Peace
is something provided to us by God
(which we need to both seek and receive)
that
enables us to have tranquility, or be okay on the inside,
regardless
of our circumstances.”
While I know in my mind that these words are true, it seems like
it is much harder to “act out” than it is to just agree with it. I know that God does provide peace for us,
but where I struggle is accepting His peace when I am in a place in my life
where I don’t want to be.
As I wrote last week, His peace is always there but it is our
choice whether we are going to accept it or not. It’s easy to choose peace when life is
running smoothly and all of our ducks are in a row. But when we are thrown a curve ball and we
are suddenly on a detour that we didn’t plan, it seems to be so much harder to
choose His peace. As I was contemplating
as to why I struggle with this, the author hit me between the eyes with these
words:
“Peace
isn’t stolen from us – we choose to give it up when
we
refuse to give up control or when we take our eyes off Jesus.”
Refusing to give up control.
Ouch. That hurt. Anyone that knows me probably would agree
that I can easily be a control freak.
I’m pretty particular and I like things to be done and go in the way I
think they should happen. So when things
in my life go haywire, I often tend to just tighten my grip on what is swirling
around me. As I read, I realized that
when I do that, I am refusing to give up control because I think I can handle
things better. It is at those times when
I am taking my eyes off of Jesus and putting them on myself, and nothing good
ever comes from doing that.
Mr. Lange then summed it up with this one powerful statement:
“Any
lack of peace that I experience is simply because
I am
focusing on my issues and me rather than on Jesus.”
So, so true. If I can
fully comprehend this truth and remember it every time I feel my stomach going
into knots, hopefully I will stop wherever I am and whatever I am doing and choose
His peace. It’s always there for
me…always available…but it’s up to me to put my eyes on my Jesus and accept the
peace He is offering.
How about you? Are you
living in chaos right now? If so, to
whom are you focusing your eyes on? If
they are on you…I doubt you have peace and you need to remember, just like I
do, that you are making the choice not to have peace. It’s always there for you…always
available…but you have to be willing to turn your eyes on your Jesus and choose
to have the peace He so longs to give you!
I keep my eyes always on the Lord.
With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken.
Psalm 16:8
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