Calm My Anxious Heart

This has been one of my favorite finds in the book world lately. I took so many notes, and I wanted to share them with you all.

“My feelings are strong but:
God’s word is truer than anything I feel
God’s word is truer than anything I experience
God’s word is truer than any circumstances I will ever face

The problem: Living by feelings
We live by our feelings and what we can see.
The result of living by feelings? An Anxious heart.

The Solution: Living by faith
We must live by trusting God for what we cannot see.
The result of living by faith? a calm heart

Faith looks to God but feelings look to what is going on around us

True faith is always active

“Who is among you that feareth the Lord, that obeyeth the voice of his servant, that walketh in darkness, and hath no light? let him trust in the name of the Lord, and stay upon his God.” ~ Isaiah 50:10

Faith says God sent it, so it must be good for me.

God doesn’t keep us immune from trouble

As I look back over my life, my deepest intimacy with Him has come from the dark times.

When what ifs come into our lives, we must ask ourselves if we’re goign to judge God by our circumstances we don’t understand or judge the circumstances in light of the character of God.

Contentment comes from a proper relationship to God, not from a response to the circumstances.

Neither go back in fear and misgiving to the past, nor in anxiety and forecasting to the future, but lie quiet under His hand, having no will but His.

Peace comes through acceptance.

Psalm 77

Though I never understand Why
Though this pain in my heart never goes away.

YET will I exult in the Lord, I will rejoice in the God of my salvation.

“Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee; in whose heart are the ways of them.” ~ Psalm 84:5

My focus becomes Him instead of where I’m going.

“I can do all things through Christ who strengtheneth me.” ~ Philipians 4:13

When God becomes our total trust we humbly accept our portion and our cup

As we grow in trusting God in all things, our contentment becomes an act of worship.

When we’ve given all our questions to God, when we’re not grumbling about the past or anxious about the future, when our tomorrows are in His keeping, we are free to wake up every morning and say “God’ve you’ve given me today as a gift. Show me how to glorify you in it.

The tomorrows are His and you are free! You are free because God himself has become your sufficiency.

Contentment begins with an eternal perspective.

Rushing Life

A few days ago Kaysie’s post about Rushing the Seasons really got me to thinking. I rush the seaons so often. I never seem to be content with where God has me.

When new job opportunities show themselves on a very distant horizen, I am ready to quit immediately. I don’t want to sit around and wait to learn the lessons God has for me.

When I meet a godly man, our lives are planned together before the week is out. I am not content to fall in love with Christ first, with Him only, for a season.

When problems come, I rush the solution. But what I have learned most is that the solution sometimes is the waiting. God is constantly reminding me that the wisdom that is gained in the not-so-good situation is worth more than any plans I ever could dream of.

Psalms 90:12 has been on my mind so much lately. The majority of the lessons learned in my lifetime could be summed up in what this verse teaches. “So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.”

That little verse says so much about learning and waiting, even in the not-so-good times. First of all, it says “So teach us…” We have to be willing to change, to learn, and to acknowledge that we don’t know best. Pride is the biggest enemy of this very important lesson. So often my heart says “But God, I just don’t want to learn. I know what I should do with my life, and I don’t need You.” To learn to not “rush the seasons” we must be humble. Grace must be poured into our hearts constantly. “Let, I pray thee, thy merciful kindness be for my comfort, according to thy word unto thy servant. Let thy tender mercies come unto me, that I may live: for thy law is my delight.” (Psalm 119:76-77)

Second, we must apply those lessons. So many times Christians get discouraged because they go through a time of waiting, and disappointment, and see no reward. Sometimes it is because we do not learn those lessons, but more often than not, we have not applied His lessons. “But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.” (James 1:22) I have heard people talk so much about discouragement, and failure in their Christian lives. Unfortunately, they do not take the responsibility for this defeat. If you do not take the things God has showed and taught to you, and apply them to your life, it is your own fault if your trial means nothing at the end. The true jewel in the testing will come when your life is changed, your heart is stirred, and you live your daily life more like Christ.

The last part of this verse is about applying your heart towards wisdom. Sometimes I walk away from a situation, and I wonder, ‘what was the end worth of that trial?’ The end reward of any situation that you learn from, and apply, will be wisdom. “For whom the LORD loveth he correcteth; even as a father the son in whom he delighteth. Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding.” (Proverbs 3:12,13) We should count ourselves blessed when we find ourselves waiting, and learn that the true blessing is gaining undescribable wisdom. “O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!” (Romans 11:33)

The beginning of anxiety is the end of faith. The beginning of true faith is the end of anxiety”

- George Muller

“Anxiety is that which divides and distracst the soul, that which diverts us from present duty to weary calculations of how to meet conditions that may never arrive. It’s the habit of crossing bridges before we come to them.”

“Lord Jesus I offer You,
All that I am
All that I have
All that I do
All that I suffer
Now and Forever”

Painting Pictures of Egypt

“I don’t want to leave here
I don’t want to stay
It feels like pinching to me either way
The places I long for the most
Are the places where I’ve been
They are calling after me like a long lost friend

It’s not about losing faith
It’s not about trust
It’s all about comfortable
When you move so much
The place I was wasn’t perfect
But I had found a way to live
It wasn’t milk or honey
But then neither is this

I’ve been painting pictures of Egypt
Leaving out what it lacked
The future seems so hard
And I want to go back
But the places that used to fit me
Cannot hold the things I”ve learned
And those roads closed off to me
While my back was turned

The past is so tangible
I know it by heart
Familiar things are never easy to discard
I was dying for some freedom
But now I hesitate to go
Caught between the promise
And the things I know

If it comes too quick
I may not recognize it
Is that the reason behind all this time and sand?
If it comes too quick
I may not recognize it
Is that the reason behind all this time and sand?”

-Sara Groves ( painting pictures of Egypt)