The Giver & Receiver

I'm still walking through Psalm 46:1 in my morning devotions. Yesterday, we talked about how God is our refuge- we run to Him and hide in Him. But the psalmist goes on to say that He is our peace. I have a lot of favorite scriptures about peace! But I want to focus on one in Psalm 29:11.

This verse says The Lord will give strength to His people, the Lord will bless His people with peace. I love this verse! When we put it all together, He is our refuge - as long as we run to Him, as we talked about yesterday. We must run to Him and hide.

But now, He is also our strength. Again - we must run to Him and let Him be our strength rather than trying to do it all on our own. This scripture in Psalm 29 says He gives us strength - and He gives us peace. But it's up to us to accept it - hold it - submit to it - and walk in it. He can pour it on us all day long but we still won't have peace or strength if we don't yield our hearts and ways to Him.

Even though He pours His abundant peace on us - it can't take effect until we let it rule in our hearts. (Colossians 3:15) This makes it an actionable item, doesn't it? We have to take action to receive and walk in the peace He gives. He keeps giving peace. He keeps being a refuge. Now it's up to us to run to Him, receive from Him, and rest in that peace.

That's a tall chore for many of us - our brains are so busy and we are currently being inundated with so much information - we don't even know what's true or false anymore. But there's one thing for sure in these uncertain times - We can still walk in His peace. Remember that Paul told us we are not citizens of this world -our citizenship is in heaven. (Philippians 3:20) Our task is to live from there - instead of trying to fit in around here.

Today, I will trust Him with myself and my loved ones. I will choose to let His peace rule in my heart no matter what I see or hear. I'll trust Him over the craziness in this world. I'll lean in to Him a little closer and rest on Him more fully as I trust Him to get me and the ones I care for through one more day. Will you join me?

Comments

Ups and Downs

Maybe it's just "that time of year" for me, but I've struggled a lot the last few weeks. I still affectionately call it the caregiver's fog. Lol. Okay, maybe it's not-so-affectionately. I know I can share my true feelings with you guys because you get it. You understand the day-to-day grind of caregiving. The military has a saying about there being no easy day. I think we live in that reality. It's just not easy caring for another whole person, is it? Caregiving presents many difficulties. We can find ourselves alone, so very alone on this journey. It doesn't just go away. We don't just work through it. It seems to go on and on. There are lots of ups and downs - and that can be about every 90 seconds some days. Right? (smile!) As I've been working through this emotional maze the last few days, I turned my thoughts to Daniel. Let's take a realistic look at his circumstances because as we read his story in the Bible, we tend to glamorize i

Seasons Are Temporary

This morning, I found myself reading in Isaiah 28. I ended up there because I was looking for something in particular, and even though I didn't find what I was looking for, I found what I needed. God's so cool like that, isn't He? My eyes first fell on verse 29, which says in the NKJ: This also comes from the Lord of hosts, Who is wonderful in counsel and excellent in guidance. I rolled that over in my mind and heart a few times and spent a few minutes thinking about how I'd seen His counsel in action in my own life. We've all had those times when we weren't sure what to do or where to go, and suddenly, an idea drops into our thoughts. There are many ways He provides direction for us. He may direct our steps through a passage of scripture, a trusted spiritual leader such as a pastor, a YouTube teacher, and maybe even a lowly blog writer. Lol. No matter how He chooses to deliver His counsel, it comes - but we must listen. After I had rolled these thoughts and t

Seek and Ye Shall Find

Over the last few weeks, I've been trying to strategize ways of dealing with stress. It's something we all deal with, especially caregivers. I'm walking and exercising more, which helps the body get rid of stress and it helps improve sleep to some degree. But I've also been working on training my thoughts. I've been working on purposefully finding things to be thankful for. At first, it was a bit difficult because let's face it, caregiving is hard work. This morning, I was plugging Chris into a nebulizer for a breathing treatment as he had an asthma attack yesterday afternoon after we'd been out for a little bit. As I was doing his treatment and his tube feeding, I didn't even really think about it; this "thought" just rolled up out of me. I thought, thank you, Lord, for carrying us through the long night. My own thankfulness surprised me! Lol. I realized at that moment that it's getting easier and easier to be thankful, even for the litt

Daily Devotions for Caregivers

Search This Blog