Day #20: I'm thankful God gives his peace.
"Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 4:6-7).
I love these verses. They are so comforting. Life can be hard sometimes--when your seemingly perfectly healthy baby ends up in the NICU or when you find out about unexpected bills you have no money to pay or when a loved one passes away or when something goes wrong at work and the fingers start pointing or when you've done everything you can to make things right, but you're still in conflict with someone. All of these situations and more in life make us anxious.
When I feel anxiety building in my heart, the Holy Spirit often graciously brings me back to these verses. He reminds me to "present your requests to God." And he sends his peace. It "transcends all understanding"; it's not logical or explainable, and it doesn't stem from figuring out how everything is going to work out. It's a gift from God. It's his peace. And it protects our hearts and minds. It stands guard at the door to keep out those anxious thoughts that can destroy us. When life gets hard, I cling to these verses. Often if I'm too anxious, my requests becomes an unending stream of words as I present them over and over! But God's peace is there. Even if my situation doesn't change (and these verses don't promise that it will!), my heart changes. God's unexplainable peace guards me and helps me to trust his sovereign plan.
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