“rejoice in the Lord always. i say it again: rejoice!  let your gentleness be evident to all. the Lord is near. do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God and the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your heart and mind. whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent  or praiseworthy – think of such things.  whatever you have learned or received or heard from me or seen in me, put it into practice. and the God of peace will be with you” -phil. 4:4-9

so not a new verse for most of us, i know.  but recently, this verse has really been speaking to me.  last quarter, everything was going great: got a new job, classes weren’t stressful, friendships and everything at home were going good, i got to travel a bit…there really wasn’t anything i could complain about and whenever someone asked me “how are you?” my only response was “really good, actually!”  i’m not saying being content is a bad thing, but it eventually got to the point where, even though i joyfully thanked God for all the blessings He was giving me, i felt like i couldn’t feel for other people anymore. so i prayed the scary “God, break me so i can feel you working through me again” prayer and boom he opened my eyes.

it’s not like my whole world fell apart or anything, but i felt like God was calling me to look out at the people around me that He’s placed in my life.  there have been so many times in my life that i’ve prayed “Oh God please just be with me and give me peace!” like when i was super stressed with school and i quite often read the philippians verse, but i didn’t seem to get much peace from my prayers.  but recently, God really opened my eyes to the part where is says “in thanksgiving“.  i now take that to mean looking at all the blessings God has given me and thanking Him for them, but then ALSO sharing them with and investing in others.  i believe Jesus calls all of His followers to have that outward mindset and you guys, it’s really so true how taking the focus off of myself has given me a new life.  it’s so easy for me to stress myself out when i’m thinking about “me me me” all the time, but when i shift my attention to how i can serve others with the blessings i have been given (time, money, listening ears, healthy relationships with people) that peace that transcends all understanding really does enter into my life.  i’m not saying that everything is stress-free after that or that no conflicts come up again, because all of that certainly does happen still, but it helps me realize that God is the only who is always in control and my only option is to look to Him and He what He wants me to do in each situation. and when in doubt of what to do, count your blessings and see how they can be shared with others, just like what our awesome brothers and sisters did to put on the hunger banquet-nice work guys!

keep on fighting the good fight,

lori