Thankful for Perfect Peace

Thankful Thursday

I know I’ve shared this verse with you several times before but it has so much truth packed into just a few words that it is worth repeating.

I’ll always be thankful that God answered the cry of my heart one day with this particular Bible passage. The New King James Version was my Bible of choice at the time, so that translation of this verse is dear to me:

You will keep him in perfect peace,
Whose mind is stayed on You,
Because he trusts in You. —Isaiah 26:3

I love the use of the word stayed in this passage! I am so thankful that God brings this and other passages to mind when I need them the most but I also keep this verse visible on the home page of my cell phone and written on cards posted in various places around the house.

How about you, Beloved? What Scripture passages spring to your mind when you’re grappling with tough situations? Please share!

Perfect Peace

I hope you enjoyed a wonderful and blessed Christmas. Ours was quiet and peaceful, something I sorely needed this year because of so many reasons. I didn’t want to leave you all just hanging but I need to take some time to myself this week.

I am in the beginning of trying a new medication that is making me feel horrible right now but apparently that is typical for this—to feel worse before you feel better. I am holding on to the hope that this one will work for me but the painful reality is trying to tell me otherwise as I wait.

Here’s a little something for you as we finish out 2012. I know it is more of a spring theme but Isaiah 26:3 is one of my life verses and the sight of all these gorgeous tulips make me feel peaceful.

…

Beloved, I pray for all of us to have this “perfect peace,” the kind that can be found in Jesus Christ alone.

God is…

Perfect Peace

The Lord gave this verse to me years ago during a particularly troubling time in my life. I was using the New King James Version of the Bible then and to this day I still love that version of Isaiah 26:3 best because the word “stayed” speaks to my heart:

You will keep him in perfect peace,
Whose mind is stayed on You,
Because he trusts in You.

Treasure Tuesday

Anna’s God Box

The other day I was searching for my box of checks. We do our bill paying online so we rarely write checks and I just couldn’t remember where I keep the unused checks.

While looking through every drawer and basket I could think of, I came across something even better, a treasure: my God Box.

Several years ago I came across the idea of writing down my prayer requests on separate pieces of note paper, one page for each person in my life. Then I folded those notes and placed them in this box. And promptly forgot about the whole thing.

So when I found the box yesterday, I could not remember what it was or why I had labeled it Anna’s “God Box.” Until I looked inside and found about a dozen tightly folded notes.

As I read each one in turn, I alternated between sadness and joy. Some of my written prayers had not come to pass, but several of them had turned out as wonderful as I had wanted. This led me to do some serious thinking. If  these prayers were not answered in the exact way I had prayed for them, did that mean God was not listening?

I’m thinking… no.

What it may mean is that God knows what is best for us and we don’t. A different answer to our prayers may simply mean that our solution is not God’s design for that situation. If He is truly our All in All, then what He allows in our lives must be the absolute best for us, whether we believe that at the time or not.

I guess it’s a matter of faith rather than feelings. Oh, can I ever get caught up in feelings! But if I  believe that God loves me so much that He wants only the best for me, then I have to let go of my uncertain feelings and trust that He will make everything right … in His timing. And that’s good enough for me.

Oh, and the saying on the top of my God Box?

“This is the day

the Lord hath made

Let us rejoice

And be glad in it.”

Psalm 118:24

Rejoicing with you for this Lord-made day,

Thankful to not have…

I was thinking of this whole thankfulness thing and remembered something that I sometimes pray for: what I don’t have.

Okaaay, I can hear most of you saying to yourselves right now. The rest are thinking, say what?

Yes, you read it correctly. I thank God for things I don’t have, things He has not allowed in my life. I’m not just talking about more serious illnesses than those I live with every day or cataclysmic events such as tornadoes and hurricanes. I’m talking about other stuff: more money, maybe more (and more stylish) clothes or a bigger house. How about straight hair instead of the naturally curly mop I was born with? Or writing talent so spectactular that publishers come after me instead of the other way around.

It seems to me that the more we want, well… the more we want, like some vicious cycle. Contentment with what we have now is admittedly difficult to be thankful for. And yet, I’m wondering if allowing ourselves to feel such contentment will result in that inner peace that is so illusive.

“Peace, mercy and love be yours in abundance.” –Jude 1:2

These are what can be ours. And from personal experience, reminding myself that I have these things usually leads to my feeling happy and contented with what I have in the here and now.

How about you?