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Articles from March 2015

Stinkin’ Thinkin’: Nervous Nelly

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Life and peace? Yes, please!

All around us things clamor for our attention, making peace a seemingly elusive concept just out of our reach at times. Paul tells the Romans a mind set on the Spirit leads to life and peace. That sounds great, but how do we do that? How do we take our minds off of our flesh and set them on the Spirit?

Stick around this week and see what God’s word has to say about it …

 

Nervous Nelly

Don’t worry about anything; instead pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all He has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. 

Philippians 4:6-7, NLT

praying_on_bible_redNervous Nelly is the “loving” nickname my family gave me years ago. Truthfully, it’s not the name that I would have chosen, but if the shoe fits?

See, I would never have considered myself a “glass half full” or a “glass half empty” kind of person. Instead, I would say I’m more of a “what if the glass spills” kind of person…and the liquid is hot…and it might burn someone…or what if the glass breaks…where are we going to get a new glass…what if someone gets a cut….

The nickname makes more sense now, doesn’t it?

It would be a struggle for me to put into words how the Lord has worked on me in this area over the past several years. He has done a mighty work on my anxious heart. However, the struggle is still there and worry is an old hat that I’m quick to put on. Diligence in praise and prayer is imperative to keep that old hat off my head!

Paul instructed the Philippians to worry about nothing but to pray about everything. He encouraged them to tell God what they needed and to thank Him for all He had done. Then, they would experience a peace that exceeded anything they could understand.

While worry is never an appropriate response, and praying about everything is imperative, another part is not to be missed. For too long, I just skipped over the thank Him for all He has done part. Because honestly, when life feels uncertain and my faith feels weak in the knees, my focus is on me and the storms around me. But when I’m able to take my thoughts off of myself and praise Him with thanksgiving, I gain some proper perspective as well as the peace I’m desperately needing.

But how do we do this when our weak-kneed faith collides with the storms of life? We praise Him. With great intention, we recall His works in our lives and we thank Him.

When our worries are turned into prayers and His goodness is recalled with thanksgiving, our hearts and minds are with His peace, exceeding anything we can understand.

With thanksgiving,

Traci

Stinkin’ Thinkin’: The Lord, a Root Canal, and Me

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Life and peace? Yes, please!

All around us things clamor for our attention, making peace a seemingly elusive concept just out of our reach at times. Paul tells the Romans a mind set on the Spirit leads to life and peace. That sounds great, but how do we do that? How do we take our minds off of our flesh and set them on the Spirit?

Stick around this week and see what God’s word has to say about it …

 

The Lord, a Root Canal, and Me

You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you!

Isaiah 26:3 NLT

DSC_0363 (2)Squeamish is not a word that has ever been used to describe me, but I must admit that the dentist can get me feeling a little anxious. My dentist isn’t the one to blame because it’s all me. Between the sounds of the instruments, the foreign objects crammed in my mouth, and trying to answer questions with said objects in my mouth, I want to just skip my appointment altogether. For the sake of full disclosure here, every time I leave the office, I wonder why I got myself so worked up. It’s never as bad as I think it’s going to be!

Now that you know this about me, you can probably imagine that when I needed a root canal, I was not cool as a cucumber. It wasn’t a bad experience physically, but mentally it was awful! I’m talking, somebody give me a brown paper bag! I’m hyperventilating over here! It wasn’t good.

As I was lying in the chair, my mind was trying to go into panic mode. I did my best to keep it all together because let’s face it, I was a 30-something year old woman who knew how to behave, and I really didn’t want to be THAT patient.

During the procedure, I remembered today’s verse: You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you! And so lying in my chair, with all the instruments crammed in my mouth, I began to think about the Lord. With intention, I shifted my thoughts from my circumstances to my Savior. I meditated on His character. I recalled His provision over me in the past and His promises for the future. I recited Scripture. I prayed.

There, lying in a dental chair, peace flooded my soul as I took my thoughts off of my circumstances and put them onto my Savior.

I realize your “root canal”— the situation occupying your thoughts and stealing your sleep, is likely much worse. You feel anxious and weary. Regardless of the circumstance that threatens to sweep you away, our God is a God of peace. Praise God, He is bigger than any circumstance we face.

He is there, His peace waiting to flood your soul as you take your eyes off your problems and fix them on your Provider.

Fixing my eyes on Him,

Traci

Our Great Shepherd: Dwelling Place

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Psalm 23 is one of the most recognizable passages of Scripture. Its words have been sung, prayed, and illustrated in countless ways, but if we’re not careful we can become so well acquainted with these verses that we forget the power these words hold. To recognize God as our Shepherd means we also have to accept that we are indeed like sheep: dirty, defenseless and helpless. Without a shepherd, the sheep are left to their own devices, which ultimately will lead them to starve, wander off, or be attacked. This week, let’s slow it down, remind ourselves that we are sheep in need of a loving Shepherd.

 

Dwelling Place

“Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” Psalm 23:6

FridayI’ve lived in a lot of places in the past couple of years, and I’ve found a way to call them all “home.” I like to credit it to the fact that I’m a laid-back, easily adaptable kind of person, but in reality my ability to call so many places “home” and mean it was rooted in the people around me. They were the ones to help make all of those places home.

Dwelling in the house of the Lord forever is not something I take lightly. Forever is a pretty huge concept, one that implies that it has been going on since the beginning and it will continue going on, well, forever. Which means that not only will we be dwelling in the house of the Lord after our time on earth is over – we are to be dwelling in the house of the Lord now. 

That’s one of the great things about sheep: they don’t know any home apart from their shepherd. Where the shepherd calls home is where the sheep call home. “Home” for a flock of sheep is defined by being with their shepherd. Remember Monday when we touched on those three things sheep need before they are able to rest? The first one was that sheep have to be able to see their shepherd. They don’t lie down somewhere where they can’t see the face of their shepherd.

Our concept of home shouldn’t be rooted in a number of bedrooms, a finished basement or a spacious yard. Our concept of home should be rooted in our Shepherd.

Sometimes a shepherd may call his flock to move on from a location to seek another, and other times He may have a restless flock remain where they are. He may take his sheep to a field that doesn’t seem as green as one they can see up ahead. His sheep trust him, and they remain with Him.

We must learn to do the same. His goodness and His mercy follows us and are reflected in the dwelling place He offers to us in Himself. Dwell in the land the Shepherd brings you to, trusting that His goodness and His mercy remain there with you as well!

Chelsey