"Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand, do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." --Philippians 4:4-7
Ok, so last night we discussed what it means to truly have "the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding" and what that looks like in our lives. We all tend to want to take care of things ourselves, or at least I do, and that causes a lot of stress, worry, and anxiety in our lives. This isn't what God wants for us. He wants us to literally give our worries and fears to him. Jesus tells us in Matthew 6 not to be anxious. He tells us again in Matthew 11:30 "For my yolk is easy, and my burden is light." God wants us to trade in our problems for His peace. To end the night, we all talked about an area or two in our own lives where we need to practice giving it up to God and receiving His peace. Little did I know that God would give me chances to put all of this into practice so soon.
This morning, I woke up to a text from my mom telling me that my Mamaw was taken to the hospital in an ambulance. Her right side was swollen, she was in extreme pain, and they later found that her white blood cell count was high. She has pretty bad rheumatoid arthritis (RA), and after a consult with her RA doctor, my mom and Papaw drove her to Louisville where she received injections in her shoulder, elbow, and knee. She's still in pain, but she got to go back home after a long morning and she's going to be ok.
Earlier this evening, I got a text from one of my best buds a brother in BG. His dad was in a bad wreck tonight. At the time, all he knew was that he was hurt, but knew no other details. Just a while ago I got an update, and his dad was going in for a scan and had possibly hurt either his kidney or spleen. More updates will come, I'm sure.
What a day, right? But why tell you all of this? God calls us to rejoice in Him, regardless of the circumstance. From the moment I woke up, my day could have been full of worry. And I'll admit, I initially started to worry. But as I was showering I remembered what we talked about last night, and I put it into practice. I prayed. And I prayed again on my way to school. And I prayed again in class. Every time my dad sent me a text to update me, my heart jumped a little. And right now, my heart goes out to part of my BG family, so I've been praying. But there is absolutely NOTHING that I can do to change the circumstances. And in all honesty, that's ok with me. God stands outside of time. He sees everything that has ever happened, is happening, and will happen, all at the same time. He knows why this is happening. He knows why something that occurred 10 yrs ago happened. God has a plan, even though we can't see all of the details. But He sees it all. So why worry?? Nothing will ever surprise our Lord. I can pray for healing of my family members and dear friends, but I can't worry about it because it's not up to me how it all turns out. So while I'm concerned about my friend's dad, and while I was concerned about my Mamaw this morning, I'm not worried. I'm rejoicing in the truth that our God is in control. Whatever happens is ultimately for His glory. I'm praying for peace, and God is coming through. He always does. :)
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