It’s been a while….

It’s been a little hectic these past couple of weeks. Though not intentional, I’ve let the stresses of life interfere with my writing until I realized…it’s been a while.

Changes have come and are coming. I have stressed over them. I have worried over them. It seemed like I needed answers and answers were not coming.

For weeks I have had one passage that has shown up in different ways. It has shown up in personal bible study, on my devotional calendar at work, on a podcast sermon I’m listening to. It’s even been on my “verse of the day” that shows up on my phone.

What is it you might ask?

Philippians 4:4-7. “Rejoice in the Lord always; and again I say, Rejoice. Let your gentleness be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand. Be anxious for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be known unto God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”

Be anxious for nothing. I was trying. Lord knows I was trying. I wanted to pray and let God handle it. I wanted the peace of God and not to worry about what was going on around me.

But I couldn’t. And I couldn’t understand why. I prayed this verse over and over again. Yet, the stress and worry was still there.

I wondered was my faith really this weak? Was I doing something wrong?

Day after day for weeks, this passage came to me by one path or another. Yet I couldn’t seem to grasp the peace and let go of the worry.

What was I missing? Then God showed me.

I was missing the first part. I was SO FOCUSED on Him telling me not to worry that I completely missed Him telling me to rejoice.

Rejoice in the Lord always, AND AGAIN I say, rejoice!

Rejoice ALWAYS!

When I’m worried about my job, REJOICE. When I’m worried about my finances, REJOICE. When I wonder what’s going to happen in the next week or months, REJOICE!

And you know what???

When I rejoiced in the Lord, my worries fell away. I still wondered, as any would do, about the future. But I didn’t worry. When I rejoiced in the Lord, the peace of God I so desperately sought after filled my being. If my hard head would have caught on the first time around, I could have saved myself a lot of worry.

How often do we do that? If you’re like me…..ALOT!

So changes have come and changes are coming. They always will. But one thing that never changes, one thing that is the same yesterday, today and forever is my God and His word. So come what may, I will Rejoice in the Lord always.

Again, I say Rejoice!