October 4, 2012

• {Seeking Peace}

  As you all know from prior confessions of mine on this blog, I can tend to be an over thinker.

  
  

  I analyze.  A lot.  Especially when it comes to relationships or things that hit close to home with me and matter a lot.

  
  

  Recently, I had a conversation with two of my best friends, during which I told them that prior to a year or two ago, I had not been labeled an over-analyzer the way I have been lately.  It has been bothering me a bit. The labeling. I mean, yes, I know that about myself, but is it really THAT bad??

  
   

  

  
  

  
  

  So I asked my friends if they REALLY thought I was that much of an analyzer.

  
  

  One said “Well, I don’t know anyone else who analyzes as much as you do” and the other said “You can see where we are coming from with this, right?”  I had to agree that I did see where they were coming from. That would have been hard to deny.

  
  

  But I want to be balanced. I am glad that I am a thinker.  But I guess I would prefer to be just that. A thinker. Not an OVER thinker.

  
  

  

  
  

  With all my over thinking, I tend to sometimes get obsessive about things.  I know.  Shocking!! When I get obsessive, it steals my peace.  When my peace is gone, then so is my joy.  And then life gets pretty crappy.  At least in my head.

   

  (A.D.D. Moment:  Does that above paragraph remind anyone else of that series of ads that DirectTV has going on right now?? You know, the ones that my 10 year old son — and my husband — both think are absolutely hilarious.  If you want to check one out…go here

  Warning: you might laugh!)
  

  I have been thinking about and discussing these subject of peace and “letting go” lately.  I have re-read (again) Chapter 8 in the “1,000 Gifts” book. There is SO much wisdom packed into that chapter.  One of the main things that I took away from it this last time was that surrender and letting go IS.A.CHOICE.  Trusting God to be good is a choice.  And a lot of times, in our human-ness, it is easier to grasp for control. Anxiety and stress feel more comfortable, in an odd way.  More normal.  And we have to decide, again and again, to just let go.  And trust that HE will guide you if there is anything YOU should be doing in that moment and also trust Him if there isn’t anything you should be doing.

  
  

  

   

  I think it is cool, how, when God is working on us in a certain area and teaching us something, it just kind of pops up everywhere.

  
  

  From conversations, to a really cool experience I had on Sunday where God just re-affirmed to me that surrender is always best, to things that I read, whether in the Bible or otherwise.

  
  

  Along those lines, I just wanted to share a few verses from I Peter that I read lately.  I don’t even know why I started a study in I Peter. It was just kind of random.  

  
  

  But then again, maybe not so much.  Maybe God knew (more like, definitely God knew) that I needed to read some of these verses to solidify some things about peace in my mind.

  
  

  
  

  
  

  First, I was reading in Chapter 3 where Peter is talking to the wives.  And TWO different places within a few verses, he mentions peace.  And both times it is regards to women. Maybe, just maybe, God knew that women would struggle with this a lot.  
  
  

  ^{The first verse is verse 4 of Chapter 3 (Amplified version) and it says:}   But let it be the inward adorning and beauty of the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible and unfading charm of a gentle and peaceful spirit, which [is not anxious or wrought up, but] is very precious in the sight of God. 

  
  

  Isn’t it so cool that he actually mentions that a gentle and peaceful spirit is precious in the sight of God??  

  
  

  And then this verse a little bit further down in the chapter:  And you are now her (Sarah’s) true daughters if you do right and let nothing terrify you [not giving way to hysterical fears or letting anxieties unnerve you].

  
  

  
  

  I thought that these verses were really cool, but then the NEXT day I read this:  

  
  

  Let him search for peace (harmony; undisturbedness from fears, agitating passions, and moral conflicts) and seek it eagerly. [Do not merely desire peaceful relations with God, with your fellowmen, and with yourself, but pursue, go after them!] (Bold emphasis added by me)

  
  

  I loved the emphasis on peace being something that WE seek and pursue. Isn’t so much of life like that?  You get out of it what you put in.

  
  

  And the search for peace and quietness of soul and learning not to be such an over-thinker…its not any different.  You get out of it what you are willing to put into it.

  
  

  Just wanted to share this with you all.

  
  

  

   

  And if you haven’t ever read “1,000 Gifts” by Ann Voskamp, get it and read it just for Chapter 8 if nothing else.

  
  

  If you are a person who struggles with over-analyzing or feeling anxious or lacking peace in your life, it just might rock your world!!

  
  

  Like the saying goes, I’m just “a beggar telling another beggar where to find bread.”

  
  

  
  

  (PS…all of these pictures are fall pictures I took around our place and along our dirt road. With my I-phone. With no photography experience.  It is literally just.that.pretty around here these days!)

  • 1:11 pm
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