Worry and Peace
Dear Sisters,
Hi! I hope you are all doing well. I think of you and pray for you all. We are special family of God, yes! You can't help but think of family and pray for them. It's been a trying time for us all with our nation suffering as it has since September 11th. Yet I feel such a sense of peace knowing that my beautiful LORD is in full control. I have only to lean on Him, He will show me the way. He is totally faithful and totally trustworthy. "In quietness and confidence shall be your strength." As women of God, that is our calling, to be sure. I know this is so because the LORD says in 1 Peter 3: 4 of the godly woman's adornment:
"But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price."
What a beautiful verse, yes? I see the words "quiet" and "gentle" so often in conjunction with women of God. Believe me, I am anything but these two words in my natural spirit. I used to tell my husband all the time, "I have a voice! And I'm going to use it!" Yes, with exclamation points is just about how loudly I'd say that to him. But things have been changing around here for some time. Well, ever since I began to sit daily at the Feet of Jesus. I've found that the more gentle and quiet I've learned to become (notice, I said learned), the more positive changes in my marriage and in my family. And it's a learning that continues on to this day.
Sisters, I can't emphasize enough to you how true the Word of God is. I am so thankful that He is teaching me the value of being a quiet and gentle woman. Does this mean I don't talk anymore? Well, any of you that know me personally are probably laughing. I still love to talk! Especially with my husband, my children, and other women.
No, what I mean here is that there is a deliberate rest of spirit in Christ. You've all probably heard the old saying, "He said it. I believe it. That settles it forever." Well, that is the spiritual rest I am talking about. So if the LORD says that a woman who puts on the ornament of a quiet and gentle spirit, (which is precious in His sight), is a good thing, then I'd best pay attention. And so I have. And so I've prayed. And so I've made deliberate changes.
I have deliberately chosen over the years not to be angry. I just don't get mad like I used to. It has been a deliberate choice of my will coupled with His Spirit's power within me. I have asked for help, and He has provided the opportunities for me to let Him have control. If I have control, well, you can well imagine what happens.
This is an example. Many years ago when I began to ask for help in changing my attitude, I had a braided rug under our kitchen table. (Really not practical with four small children.) Anyway, one of the kids knocked over a full gallon of milk. Now you know how that can stink up a carpet! I am under the table yelling at the kids to beat the band as I mopped up the spilt milk. The kids are quiet as lambs in front of their cereal bowls above me. Suddenly it dawned on me that this was one of those perfect choices I had to make, either I could walk in my spirit (which you can see was pretty loud and unforgiving), or I could walk in His Spirit. Fortunately, I chose the latter and said a quick prayer as His Spirit led me. I popped my head up from under the table and said,
"Did you think I was mad?"
Four heads bobbed, "Yes."
"Oh, no," I told them. "That was the old Mama. This is the new Mama." I paused for a moment to breathe deeply in. "Was this an accident?"
Four heads bobbed, "Yes."
"Then we're just going to clean the whole mess up and say nothing more about it."
Four eyes wide in astonishment stared back at smiling me. Yes, I was even smiling by this point!
I can go right back to that day in my mind, because that was the day that I determined through the Spirit of God to learn to become a quiet and gentle woman.
Did it come naturally?
No.
But through the years, I have learned to rely more on His Spirit than my own reactive spirit in any given situation. I am learning to call out to Him immediately in trying circumstances. And when you have children, those trying circumstances are pretty much a daily event. I need His help so much.
Let me ask you a question. Are you attracted to quiet and gentle women? Women of deep faith? Women who love the LORD and those around them so much? Do gentle women soothe your spirit? Do quiet women, whose trust is so deep in God, make you long for the same in your own life?
Well, I think this is God's plan for His women. ~Smile~
We are made so differently than men, aren't we? I love to celebrate the differences, now that I understand them so much better in the light of God's Word.
Something else that the LORD helped me with besides my anger was my anxious spirit. My husband used to say when we were dating that he never knew anyone who was more fearful than I. Do you think it got better after we got married? Or had children? No, it grew worse. More to worry and be fearful about!
But, again, I learned that I had a choice to make, just as I had in my anger. I could choose to be fearful and anxious, or I could quote Scripture, believe God for it, and turn every worry into a prayer. Some days I was praying all day. This was a good thing and resulted in my "praying without ceasing."
"Be anxious for nothing. But by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God which passes all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."
I can attest to the truth of that verse. A big "AMEN" resounds after it in my Bible.
So when I would be anxious about something, I would stick that bit of anxiousness in that verse. But you see, it was always obliterated with the word, "nothing." Every single worry I tried to stick in that verse told me not be anxious about it. Rather to thank God and ask Him for help. Then to rest in Him. Our God is the God of all details. Just look at His infinite creation. Just watch an ant sometimes. Our God is The God of all details. There is no detail or concern we have that He can't handle. No wonder we are never to be anxious about anything. He loves to move in all the details of our lives. I love to walk in His will. I love to walk in total trust through Christ Jesus, my LORD. I love to lean against Him and breathe Him in. He is an incredible Guard of our hearts and minds, if we will but let Him.
Recently I had a terrible mouth full of canker sores with swollen lymph glands that lasted about four weeks. It's probably the worse bout I've ever had. My gums were especially bad this time looking like I had some sort of gum disease forming. My oral surgeon ruled out saliva gland blockage and suggested I see a pathologist. I think he suspected lymph gland blockage. I couldn't worry about it. I had too much trust in Him. Yes, my mouth hurt badly. But I kept thanking Him in the pain. When finally I had to just sleep a lot due to extreme lethargy brought on by my condition, I determined I would lay there and praise Him. It was a beautiful time. I also learned during this time to make a special herbal mouth rinse which helped so much. I learned to take some more supplements, which also helped so much. So in my pain there was a lot of learning going on. Especially from His Word. Pain for His gain in my life. Loss of sleep for more of His strength in my life. The painful exchanges far outweigh the eternal learning.
I've fussed and fretted enough in my life to last a lifetime. I am turning to trusting and resting in Him. Even during this whole painful ordeal with our nation. I can honestly say to you that I have only known His peace. I know that sounds far out and unbelievable, but it is the honest truth. As my children and I watched the news all day, September 11th, I expressed to them my LORD's peace in the midst of terrible turmoil. I spoke to them a lot about the end times and wars, and rumors of war. And the LORD's admonition to not be afraid. We all felt a huge sense of loss, but I did notice that my children walked calmly through the storm with me. Did we cry? Oh, yes. Don't get me wrong. We felt great pain. But I am learning that it is possible to also know His peace in the midst of great pain. It is His guarding of a heart and a mind. And it is priceless.
I had to speak the next day after the tragedy to our women's group. I was supposed to speak on organization, but it seemed trivial to speak on that after the horrible events our nation had suffered. I have learned to lean on the LORD. Part of leaning on the LORD is leaning on His Body. I love His Body. I love His love given and shown in His Body. As I was walking through the church grounds I saw a lovely woman of faith walking past me. I quickly stopped her and asked her to pray for me as I was about to speak to this group of women. I knew many of them had such fear of the future. She wrapped her arms around me and poured out a quick prayer that sustained me to speak at this trying time.
I can honestly say to you that when I was not walking closely with the LORD, this threat of war would have thrown me into great panic. Just thinking about my eighteen year old son being possible drafted would have caused me no short amount of fear and worry. In fact, I can remember being in such a state during the Desert Storm war. I felt nothing but fear and worry. I couldn't seem to function normally. My mind was in state of constant fear and turmoil.
So what changed? What could possibly have changed?
The guarding of my heart and mind in Christ Jesus.
The being anxious for nothing. For nothing. For nothing.
The praying for everything. For everything. For everything.
The being thankful in everything. In everything. In everything.
The result?
Perfect peace.
Even in the midst of a national storm or a physical crisis.
And this is what I am learning is a woman's adornment that is so precious in His sight. It is an exchanging of anger for quietness. It is an exchanging of fear for gentleness. All is possible through Christ Jesus our LORD.
"In quietness and confidence shall be your strength."
"Thou wilt keep 'her' in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Thee, because 'she' trusteth in Thee."
I wish I could tell you that I always walk perfectly in His peace. Oh, I wish I could tell you this, because He is always faithful to His Word, even though I am not. I am trusting Him a lot more than I used to, but I have still so far to go. This was driven home to me this weekend when I was asked to give a 3 minute testimony on prayer for our women's retreat. Yes, just three minutes. You wouldn't think that would send me into turmoil, would you? Especially after all I've shared with you on His peace guarding my heart through this huge crisis and physical pain and all. Especially after speaking right after the tragedy for forty whole minutes to a group of women. But as I've shared with you before, I have a very hard time with public speaking. This time it would be in front of 350 women, the largest group I had ever stood before. Three minutes seemed an awful long time to me to be in front of them. I prayed, oh, I prayed. But I'm afraid I did what my grandmother used to do. "I gave it to the LORD, and then I took it back to fuss a little over." Literally, these precious Words jumped out of the Bible at me during this time of testing:
"Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?"
So this message is as much for me as it is for you. Peter could walk on water, but he couldn't tell a servant girl that he knew Jesus. Sometimes we can trust Him for the big things and fall flat in the little things. Or vice versa. Oh, how we need Him. How we need to totally trust Him in the big or the small. Especially me. Especially me!
So once again I'm leaning against Him. I'm breathing Him in. He's showing me the way. No panic involved. No pressure from me. Rather His perfect peace that passes all understanding. It's priceless. And since I don't trust myself for one moment in time, I call on Him continually to be "The Master of My Moments."
His strength is portrayed in a quiet and gentle woman. She is fashioned after the Holy Spirit. In quietness and confidence shall be her strength.
No fear...only faith.
By the grace of God we are all growing up, even if we experience growing pains at times. He will never leave us nor forsake us. Oh, to trust Him more! That is our total aim. Then we will finally trust Him with everything and leave nothing to ourselves.
Isn't that the most quiet and gentle woman you've even known?
Love,
Laine
Hi! I hope you are all doing well. I think of you and pray for you all. We are special family of God, yes! You can't help but think of family and pray for them. It's been a trying time for us all with our nation suffering as it has since September 11th. Yet I feel such a sense of peace knowing that my beautiful LORD is in full control. I have only to lean on Him, He will show me the way. He is totally faithful and totally trustworthy. "In quietness and confidence shall be your strength." As women of God, that is our calling, to be sure. I know this is so because the LORD says in 1 Peter 3: 4 of the godly woman's adornment:
"But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price."
What a beautiful verse, yes? I see the words "quiet" and "gentle" so often in conjunction with women of God. Believe me, I am anything but these two words in my natural spirit. I used to tell my husband all the time, "I have a voice! And I'm going to use it!" Yes, with exclamation points is just about how loudly I'd say that to him. But things have been changing around here for some time. Well, ever since I began to sit daily at the Feet of Jesus. I've found that the more gentle and quiet I've learned to become (notice, I said learned), the more positive changes in my marriage and in my family. And it's a learning that continues on to this day.
Sisters, I can't emphasize enough to you how true the Word of God is. I am so thankful that He is teaching me the value of being a quiet and gentle woman. Does this mean I don't talk anymore? Well, any of you that know me personally are probably laughing. I still love to talk! Especially with my husband, my children, and other women.
No, what I mean here is that there is a deliberate rest of spirit in Christ. You've all probably heard the old saying, "He said it. I believe it. That settles it forever." Well, that is the spiritual rest I am talking about. So if the LORD says that a woman who puts on the ornament of a quiet and gentle spirit, (which is precious in His sight), is a good thing, then I'd best pay attention. And so I have. And so I've prayed. And so I've made deliberate changes.
I have deliberately chosen over the years not to be angry. I just don't get mad like I used to. It has been a deliberate choice of my will coupled with His Spirit's power within me. I have asked for help, and He has provided the opportunities for me to let Him have control. If I have control, well, you can well imagine what happens.
This is an example. Many years ago when I began to ask for help in changing my attitude, I had a braided rug under our kitchen table. (Really not practical with four small children.) Anyway, one of the kids knocked over a full gallon of milk. Now you know how that can stink up a carpet! I am under the table yelling at the kids to beat the band as I mopped up the spilt milk. The kids are quiet as lambs in front of their cereal bowls above me. Suddenly it dawned on me that this was one of those perfect choices I had to make, either I could walk in my spirit (which you can see was pretty loud and unforgiving), or I could walk in His Spirit. Fortunately, I chose the latter and said a quick prayer as His Spirit led me. I popped my head up from under the table and said,
"Did you think I was mad?"
Four heads bobbed, "Yes."
"Oh, no," I told them. "That was the old Mama. This is the new Mama." I paused for a moment to breathe deeply in. "Was this an accident?"
Four heads bobbed, "Yes."
"Then we're just going to clean the whole mess up and say nothing more about it."
Four eyes wide in astonishment stared back at smiling me. Yes, I was even smiling by this point!
I can go right back to that day in my mind, because that was the day that I determined through the Spirit of God to learn to become a quiet and gentle woman.
Did it come naturally?
No.
But through the years, I have learned to rely more on His Spirit than my own reactive spirit in any given situation. I am learning to call out to Him immediately in trying circumstances. And when you have children, those trying circumstances are pretty much a daily event. I need His help so much.
Let me ask you a question. Are you attracted to quiet and gentle women? Women of deep faith? Women who love the LORD and those around them so much? Do gentle women soothe your spirit? Do quiet women, whose trust is so deep in God, make you long for the same in your own life?
Well, I think this is God's plan for His women. ~Smile~
We are made so differently than men, aren't we? I love to celebrate the differences, now that I understand them so much better in the light of God's Word.
Something else that the LORD helped me with besides my anger was my anxious spirit. My husband used to say when we were dating that he never knew anyone who was more fearful than I. Do you think it got better after we got married? Or had children? No, it grew worse. More to worry and be fearful about!
But, again, I learned that I had a choice to make, just as I had in my anger. I could choose to be fearful and anxious, or I could quote Scripture, believe God for it, and turn every worry into a prayer. Some days I was praying all day. This was a good thing and resulted in my "praying without ceasing."
"Be anxious for nothing. But by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God which passes all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."
I can attest to the truth of that verse. A big "AMEN" resounds after it in my Bible.
So when I would be anxious about something, I would stick that bit of anxiousness in that verse. But you see, it was always obliterated with the word, "nothing." Every single worry I tried to stick in that verse told me not be anxious about it. Rather to thank God and ask Him for help. Then to rest in Him. Our God is the God of all details. Just look at His infinite creation. Just watch an ant sometimes. Our God is The God of all details. There is no detail or concern we have that He can't handle. No wonder we are never to be anxious about anything. He loves to move in all the details of our lives. I love to walk in His will. I love to walk in total trust through Christ Jesus, my LORD. I love to lean against Him and breathe Him in. He is an incredible Guard of our hearts and minds, if we will but let Him.
Recently I had a terrible mouth full of canker sores with swollen lymph glands that lasted about four weeks. It's probably the worse bout I've ever had. My gums were especially bad this time looking like I had some sort of gum disease forming. My oral surgeon ruled out saliva gland blockage and suggested I see a pathologist. I think he suspected lymph gland blockage. I couldn't worry about it. I had too much trust in Him. Yes, my mouth hurt badly. But I kept thanking Him in the pain. When finally I had to just sleep a lot due to extreme lethargy brought on by my condition, I determined I would lay there and praise Him. It was a beautiful time. I also learned during this time to make a special herbal mouth rinse which helped so much. I learned to take some more supplements, which also helped so much. So in my pain there was a lot of learning going on. Especially from His Word. Pain for His gain in my life. Loss of sleep for more of His strength in my life. The painful exchanges far outweigh the eternal learning.
I've fussed and fretted enough in my life to last a lifetime. I am turning to trusting and resting in Him. Even during this whole painful ordeal with our nation. I can honestly say to you that I have only known His peace. I know that sounds far out and unbelievable, but it is the honest truth. As my children and I watched the news all day, September 11th, I expressed to them my LORD's peace in the midst of terrible turmoil. I spoke to them a lot about the end times and wars, and rumors of war. And the LORD's admonition to not be afraid. We all felt a huge sense of loss, but I did notice that my children walked calmly through the storm with me. Did we cry? Oh, yes. Don't get me wrong. We felt great pain. But I am learning that it is possible to also know His peace in the midst of great pain. It is His guarding of a heart and a mind. And it is priceless.
I had to speak the next day after the tragedy to our women's group. I was supposed to speak on organization, but it seemed trivial to speak on that after the horrible events our nation had suffered. I have learned to lean on the LORD. Part of leaning on the LORD is leaning on His Body. I love His Body. I love His love given and shown in His Body. As I was walking through the church grounds I saw a lovely woman of faith walking past me. I quickly stopped her and asked her to pray for me as I was about to speak to this group of women. I knew many of them had such fear of the future. She wrapped her arms around me and poured out a quick prayer that sustained me to speak at this trying time.
I can honestly say to you that when I was not walking closely with the LORD, this threat of war would have thrown me into great panic. Just thinking about my eighteen year old son being possible drafted would have caused me no short amount of fear and worry. In fact, I can remember being in such a state during the Desert Storm war. I felt nothing but fear and worry. I couldn't seem to function normally. My mind was in state of constant fear and turmoil.
So what changed? What could possibly have changed?
The guarding of my heart and mind in Christ Jesus.
The being anxious for nothing. For nothing. For nothing.
The praying for everything. For everything. For everything.
The being thankful in everything. In everything. In everything.
The result?
Perfect peace.
Even in the midst of a national storm or a physical crisis.
And this is what I am learning is a woman's adornment that is so precious in His sight. It is an exchanging of anger for quietness. It is an exchanging of fear for gentleness. All is possible through Christ Jesus our LORD.
"In quietness and confidence shall be your strength."
"Thou wilt keep 'her' in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Thee, because 'she' trusteth in Thee."
I wish I could tell you that I always walk perfectly in His peace. Oh, I wish I could tell you this, because He is always faithful to His Word, even though I am not. I am trusting Him a lot more than I used to, but I have still so far to go. This was driven home to me this weekend when I was asked to give a 3 minute testimony on prayer for our women's retreat. Yes, just three minutes. You wouldn't think that would send me into turmoil, would you? Especially after all I've shared with you on His peace guarding my heart through this huge crisis and physical pain and all. Especially after speaking right after the tragedy for forty whole minutes to a group of women. But as I've shared with you before, I have a very hard time with public speaking. This time it would be in front of 350 women, the largest group I had ever stood before. Three minutes seemed an awful long time to me to be in front of them. I prayed, oh, I prayed. But I'm afraid I did what my grandmother used to do. "I gave it to the LORD, and then I took it back to fuss a little over." Literally, these precious Words jumped out of the Bible at me during this time of testing:
"Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?"
So this message is as much for me as it is for you. Peter could walk on water, but he couldn't tell a servant girl that he knew Jesus. Sometimes we can trust Him for the big things and fall flat in the little things. Or vice versa. Oh, how we need Him. How we need to totally trust Him in the big or the small. Especially me. Especially me!
So once again I'm leaning against Him. I'm breathing Him in. He's showing me the way. No panic involved. No pressure from me. Rather His perfect peace that passes all understanding. It's priceless. And since I don't trust myself for one moment in time, I call on Him continually to be "The Master of My Moments."
His strength is portrayed in a quiet and gentle woman. She is fashioned after the Holy Spirit. In quietness and confidence shall be her strength.
No fear...only faith.
By the grace of God we are all growing up, even if we experience growing pains at times. He will never leave us nor forsake us. Oh, to trust Him more! That is our total aim. Then we will finally trust Him with everything and leave nothing to ourselves.
Isn't that the most quiet and gentle woman you've even known?
Love,
Laine
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