I Want a Heart at Peace by Mary Folkerts

 

We find ourselves in a conundrum, don’t we? On one hand, we desperately seek emotional and mental peace, yet our actions often lead us in the opposite direction.

I must confess I am somewhat of a news junkie, often consuming more information—whether true or false—than is beneficial for me. Is it simply that I want to know what is happening in the world, or am I attempting to feel a sense of control because, as they say, knowledge is power? However, too much knowledge tends to make me more anxious rather than easing my mind. I wonder if this easy access to information is a partial cause of our anxious generation?

To counter the adverse effects of our stress-inducing information gathering, we try calming methods such as deep breathing and meditation and find some success. However, does this truly alleviate the internal conflict created by our need to know everything and the anxiety stemming from that pursuit? Constant exposure to negative world news and questionable information, layered with personal worries, culminates in more anxiety than ever. I’m not suggesting we remain ignorant or uncaring about all world events, but were we meant to know everything?

Constant exposure to negative world news and questionable information, layered with personal worries, culminates in more anxiety than ever.

What if, instead of our constant need for worldly information, we dedicated more time to learning from the One who truly holds control? What if we allowed God to replace our desire for control in our hearts with trust in Him? The more time we spend with Him, the more we realize He is trustworthy. He ultimately reigns above all worldly kings and rulers, ordaining and ordering all things. In John 16:33 (NIV), we read, “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world, you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

If we genuinely learned to trust God and stopped pursuing control, would we discover our hearts quieted and our minds at peace? The more time we spend with the God of peace, the more peace we will possess.

Mary Folkerts is mom to four kids and wife to a farmer, living on the southern prairies of Alberta, where the skies are large and the sunsets stunning. She is a Proverbs 31 ministries COMPEL Writers Training member involved in church ministries and music. Mary’s blog aims to encourage and inspire women and advocate for those with Down Syndrome, as their youngest child introduced them to this extraordinary new world. For more inspiration, check out Joy in the Small Things https://maryfolkerts.com/ or connect on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/maryfolkerts/

Overwhelmed or Prayerful? by Steph Beth Nickel

Wildfires. Hurricanes. Oppression. Political upheaval. And yes, a worldwide pandemic.

Add to that personal challenges and the struggles being experienced by family and friends, and there is a very real temptation to curl up in a corner and hope it all just goes away. It’s no wonder anxiety, depression, and other mental health issues are on the rise.

More than ever before, I’ve recognized that we have to make deliberate choices as to how we’re going to face these tumultuous days.

Keep Our Head Down and Act as If Everything is Fine

Granted, I’d love to live in Happy Bubble Land, but we all know it isn’t a real place—at least not this side of heaven. Still, there are plenty of people who are afraid to look around for fear that they will be swept away by all that’s going on in the world. They do their best to continue on, business as usual. And while it may work for a time, unless we’re living completely “off the grid,” news of the most recent heartbreaking situation is at our fingertips 24/7.

Overextend Ourselves, Taking on More than We Can Handle

Like me, you may care deeply about a wide variety of issues. You wonder what you can do to make things better. You have friends whose passions fuel your own. And then—you overextend. You take up just one more cause. Comment on just one more social media post. Say yes to just one more request. And soon you’re done in. You either work to the point of exhaustion or you leave project after project undone because you just don’t have the wherewithal to complete it.

Succumb to the Temptation to “Doom Scroll”

No matter how many times we tell ourselves we’re not going to read another post about COVID or the online arguments raging on social media or the political mudslinging, it comes across our newsfeed or a family member fills us in on something we’d rather not know. It is important to be informed. However, we can’t do something about everything. And often, too much doom scrolling leads to overwhelm, which leads to ineffectiveness in all areas.

Allow the Anxiety to Get the Upper Hand

I’m not suggesting that overcoming anxiety and other mental health considerations are as simple as flipping a switch. I know full well they’re not. I’ve slept more in the last year and a half than ever before. I’ve watched way more YouTube videos and streamed more TV shows than was wise. I’ve even been on the precipice of panic attacks, something I’ve never experienced before. No judgement here! When mental health issues of any description rear their ugly head, it’s important to reach out and get the help we need. It may be as simple as spending time with a friend, or we may need to see a professional counsellor. It’s important that we don’t let the tide carry us away.

Focus on the Task at Hand While Acknowledging that the Struggle is Real

Do you pick up your phone before you’re even out of bed to see what’s happening in the world? Do you make a long To-Do List every day and then become overwhelmed before you even begin? Do you rehearse the dozen things you still have on your list while you’re working on something else? Although I do make a fairly lengthy To-Do list, I’m learning to focus on the task at hand and celebrate each one that I cross off my list. Am I always successful? Absolutely not. (In fact, I was just notified that I have a message on my phone, and I was tempted to check it before I even finished this paragraph.)

There is one choice that will put all others into perspective …

Become More Prayerful

It may seem obvious, but it’s so easy to “forget” to spend time in God’s presence. We can become so overwhelmed that we can’t formulate a coherent sentence. (It’s okay to simply say, “God, I need you!”) On the other hand, we can be so focused on keeping our head down and accomplishing the task at hand that we don’t make prayer a part of our day.

Recently, I’ve been thinking about the tragedies suffered by those in Old Testament times. The Lord often chastened them for not turning to Him when their world was falling apart. He would often wait to pour out rich blessing until they remembered to go to Him in prayer. I don’t know how long the pandemic will last, when the wildfires will be extinguished, or what the results of the next election will be, but I do know that the Lord offers peace and wisdom to those who spend time in His presence.

May He equip each of us to obey the commands in Philippians 4:4-6: “Rejoice in the Lord always … do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.” We can then hold onto the promise in verse 7: ”And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (ESV).

Writing My Way Through Grief by Nina Faye Morey

My life has changed dramatically since I lost my loving husband and soulmate to cancer in April. Since then, I’ve found myself wandering through a desolate landscape filled with grief and loss, searching for the light that will lift me up out of this deep well of darkness.

I know that I must adapt my life to this new and challenging landscape, but my negative feelings—grief, fear, worry, anxiety, depression and loneliness—have caused me to lose my way. These debilitating emotions have also made it next to impossible for me to write. However, I’ve slowly come to realize that if I can refocus my writing to address my grief and loss, it may shed some light on my feelings that will help me work my way through this grieving process.

The empty page seems like a safe and comfortable place to pour out my feelings, but it requires a willingness to delve deep into this darkness that envelopes me. I will need to face my feelings of grief and loss, my fears, my worries, and my anxieties. I’ll need to summon the inner strength to explore and deal with the overwhelming emotions that writing about my grief evokes. I know it will not be easy. But if I’m brave enough, the process of writing may offer some relief from my sorrow and provide the healing needed to find my way out of this deep well of darkness.

While writing my way through grief may offer some measure of release and healing, my main source of comfort still comes through Bible study and prayer. I know that I do not have to deal with these feelings of grief and loss alone. Psalm 34:18 (NIV) assures me that “The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.” I can rely on Him and His word to provide me with the comfort, peace, strength, guidance, and support that I need. Jesus promises “Blessed are they who mourn, for they will be comforted” (Matthew 5:4). If I pour out my grief to Him through prayer, I know that He will be faithful to heal my broken heart and bind up my wounds (Psalm 147:3). When I am afraid, I can ask Him to calm my fears and give me “the peace of God, which transcends all understanding (Philippians 4:7).

Although writing my way through grief may be therapeutic, helping me to cope with my negative thoughts and feelings, I know that ultimately it is through faith and prayer that God will rescue me from this deep well of darkness and lift me up into the glory of His light once more.

Write Plan B First

A Shelter in the Time of Storm by Pamela Mytroen

 A Shelter in the Time of Storm 

My phone vibrated in my pocket and whoop, whooped. "Tornado Watch. Funnel Clouds are in the area and could develop into tornadoes. Stay alert and take cover as danger escalates." I swivelled my shopping cart back to the entry of the store and parked it. Bursting out into the open area of the mall I searched for my husband. Where would we go? Where could we take cover? We were in a mall in Branson, Missouri and there was no basement. I paced back and forth in the corridor looking for him, going over my options. We could go down into the theatre, I reasoned, since it was a few steps below ground level, but still not far enough below ground to be protected from a tornado.

Finally I spotted my husband in a store across the way and I zoomed over to him. He chatted with a salesman. They had their backs to a huge window. Wind whipped the trees into arches that touched the ground, but they seemed oblivious to it all. I tugged on my husband's coat sleeve and mentioned the tornado warning that had blared through my phone. The salesman chuckled. "Oh we don't pay much attention to those warnings. They are non-stop at this time of year."

I looked at the trees bending beneath the fury of the wind, and then I glanced across to the store I had just stormed out of. People chatted, picked up merchandise, set it down, and strolled around like they were enjoying a walk in the park, even though their phones were also spewing warnings like popping corn in a theatre.

"But where would we go if there was a tornado?" I ventured, always the cautious one.

"Well, we would just crouch down, I suppose," he said in his slow drawl. He returned to his sales pitch.

I relaxed a little, seeing everybody go about their business like they were at the fair. But the next day we learned of several tornadoes, one that had left fatalities in its wake and of another one close by that had devastated a city.

It's true that when you live in Tornado Ally, you don't heed the warnings until it's too late. They are too common, too everyday to stop and take notice. On one hand people do not pay attention to warnings of imminent danger, and on the other hand, I seem to create imaginary situations to worry about as I think about my family, my job, and my health.  My pendulum swings to the worry extreme while other's pendulums swing to the careless and carefree side. While some people die of a tornado by not heeding the dire warnings, I might die of high blood pressure by worrying about situations that are barely a fist-sized cloud in the sky.  


The stress from my job and family situations had been building like black angry clouds, and swirling into tornadoes of anxiety. After much prayer, the Lord showed me that I was trying to meet everyone's expectations, which was impossible. He showed me that I needed a new mind-set. He whispered that it was okay to fail, to do my best and to stop striving. While I still tend to shoulder people's troubles, I'm learning to push my computer chair away from the desk, and take a break from the never-ending lesson planning. I'm learning to stop thinking about what could happen to my job with a new manager coming on board; I am learning to let go of the sky-high expectations my students place on me; I'm learning to fail and accept that I can't be perfect and I can't please everyone. I'm learning to stop worrying about my family, and their health, and be thankful instead. Switching one set of thoughts for another takes  self-discipline. I am amazed at the freedom and the space in my mind that was once taken up by stress and anxiety.

My daughter texted me as I was writing my blog and said that her two-year old dropped a can of Pepsi on his bare foot. She thinks his toe might be broken. Off she goes with her children into town on unplowed gravel roads while the snow is coming down. I could worry but I'm letting it go. I can't take on the burden. Instead, I find myself saying, "Thank you Lord for my daughter being a good mother. Thank you for doctors being available and for the wisdom they have. Thank you for watching over them."

As much as it takes concentration and hard work as I pour myself into my jobs and ministries, I find it takes far more focus and strength to shut down my OCD brain, to back away, take a break, call my friends, take time for coffee, and to intentionally focus on beautiful and praise-worthy things.

So today, in the midst of storms because there is always a storm brewing somewhere, I choose to be thankful. To be balanced. To hunker down and "take cover" when need be  - whether my grandson's toe is throbbing or my job is in jeopardy - and then to continue on my way, with His peace and joy. He is my shelter in the time of storm.


"Be transformed by the renewing of your mind," Romans 12:2b.

Pamela Mytroen

   

The Gift Is In His Presence - by Gloria Guest

Once again I struggled to write this blog post. It wasn’t for lack of wanting to but simply because I couldn’t figure out what direction to take; just what I wanted to say and how I wanted to say it. The subject of gifts is an expansive one with many avenues that could be written about, especially at Christmas time. I pondered the subject all month but the more I thought on it, the less decisive I felt. I didn’t feel as if I could possibly hear what God wanted me to say or that I had anything worth saying.

It’s only been in the past two years that I’ve finally recognized the presence of anxiety in my life. I came to know the ugly face of depression fairly early in my adult life, but anxiety’s presence alluded me, most likely I was shocked to realize, because I had always lived with it, even from infancy (I was able to pinpoint this time frame due to remembering things my mother had told me about myself in my early days).  For me, anxiety had always been present in my life, due to early childhood trauma and so it was as normal as the rising of the sun each day. I live with it. But not always well.

Indecision is a part of anxiety for me and therefore plays a role in all of my choices and decisions that I make each day. Some decisions are monumental for me and although writing is a joy, deciding what to write about usually isn’t.

This morning I took a random ink blot test on line that was supposed to reveal your inner struggles. My results turned out very accurate stating that I was ‘often overwhelmed with life and felt as if life was a huge test for which I hadn’t studied’. It’s like they read my mail! It also said that if I would learn to relax I wouldn’t find things to be quite so difficult. Huh! Easy for them to say!

Still, I decided that since I didn’t know what to write about I’d ‘relax’ by cleaning out my purse. And as I did I found one of those little cards that the Salvation Army gives you when you make a donation at the store. I’d forgotten about it but decided to read the inside. Here is what it said:

“I am leaving you with a gift-peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid.” John 14:27 (NLT) Underneath were written the words:

We are not alone as we face every challenge in life because God is not only with us, He is within us!

In one simple act of ‘relaxing,’ God gave me first of all the reassurance that He is always there for me in all of my anxiety and indecision and secondly He gave me direction as to what to write about.

Still anxiety crept in around the edges and I hesitated. It’s hard to be honest about where I’m at. I’d much rather write about where I’ve been and how I’ve conquered. But I kept sensing the words, “If you don’t write the truth, why write?”

God wanted me to write the truth, to write about the struggle I was in right this moment. Because that is where He meets me; in the moment, with His good gifts that only He can give. The gift is in His Presence.