Isn’t it funny how little we take care of ourselves yet how frustrated we get about our stress levels? It’s interesting to me how often we take our stress out on God.
I mean, think about it:
How often do we gripe at God for the life we live yet we seldom allow Him to intervene? We assume He wants us to work ourselves to exhaustion and never have fun. We give Him attributes that are completely out of character from who He really is and then, when we’ve had all we can take, He is the first to hear our angry heart.
Over the years, I’ve made an effort to learn the heart of my God and I will never, ever regret the time or perseverance that has taken. The more I learn Him, the more I see it clearly: He is for me. He loves me. He laughs with me when I laugh. He delights in my smile.
And although that’s a lesson that still doesn’t come easy for me and I need reminders, I try and live in the light of this life-altering truth. When I’m stressed and I find myself taking it out on myself and everyone around me, I try and quiet my heart to hear the echoes of love from His. I try not to allow the condemning thoughts attacking my bad behavior become my beliefs of how He feels about me. Sure, there may be things I need to work on. But my God will help me do that without the added condemnation. That’s not His style.
And sometimes, I just need to take better care of myself to avoid that bad behavior in the first place. We all need to do that.
Its’ not God’s will that we say “yes” to every single thing that every single person we know needs. Nor is it His will that we run ourselves into the ground even if we are doing good things for His kingdom. God wants us to be at peace and He wants to be in relationship with us. Both are blocked when we can’t quiet our lives.
Ask yourself on a stressed day this question:
What would feel best right now?
Go ahead, ask it!! Don’t be afraid!!
You may be surprised at your honest answer.
Many times, mine will resemble something like this:
A nap. A walk in the woods. A bath. Time to read. A long drive.
These are all simple things that have a profound effect on my mood and can easily turn around my weariness. Better still, they are all things I can do as I savor the restful presence of my First Love. If I nap, I ask Him to hold me and speak to my heart as I do. If I take a long drive, I talk to Him about life and the things I see around me and how grateful I am for everything He is. I allow these simple things to become acts of worship by simply inviting Him in and enjoying the fact that He is delighted to share them with me.
God’s love is extravagant. I hope you understand that. If not, maybe you need more time to experience it. I promise, as you do, the love you give everyone else around you will come from a deeper and more genuine place. That’s the kind of love He calls us to anyway.
Let Him love you into peace today. This is what He longs to do. His blessed and most beautiful design is the fulfillment of our souls…
and it will always leave us much better than it found us.
Peace, dear friends.
Peace! That’s what I felt when I first realized the truth about Jesus. Have faith and trust in Him. What a relief! So many people in the Bible were helped by Jesus just because they believed they would be. That was amazing to me when it finally sank in! It gave me such a sense of “peace”, which is what I was looking for at that time in my life. It was a difficult time and the beginning of my serious Bible study. That was many years ago. My faith journey has covered a lot ground since then, and through it all the one thing that has remained constant is the peace I have as a result of my relationship with God. He is in control and I’m glad!
Jessica, thanks for reminding me of that wonderful feeling of “peace” during the honeymoon stage of my faith journey.