The Process of Peace

Peace is a process.

Peace does not just happen.
I mean, yes, sometimes we pray and feel God's peace settle over us in that moment. His grace extending us comfort at that specific time. I have certainly experienced those moments.
But the majority of life is us learning the process of peace. The process of fighting the lies and fears in your head with: trust in God, what He said, and who He is.
That means Bible verses. That means hard mental battles that can last for a moment or for many many days, years, even a lifetime. That means repetition and memory; belief in who God is. It means sweating it out, so to speak, in the heat of your abounding fear. In the little battles. The tiny ones, like having a rash and letting your mind wander. As well as in the gigantic battles that apply stress to your very core. The process of hearing the lie, recognizing its falsehood, saying 'no' to all the what ifs that spring on you, and leaning on What God has said. He will never forsake you. He will never leave you. He has good planned for us*.... Specific Bible verses are the weapons against the lies. The proof of who God is, has been, in your own life & the lives of others, in the Bible, can also dispel the fears. God is good. God is sovereign. God is bigger.

This not new news. Ah, it is so old. Yet can seem so tedious and so basic that often times I forget its power. Then once I remember I feel shame and guilt that I forgot, neglected the tools I have been given. I can even allow that shame to fester & distract me. But that very shame is a lie. God does NOT scoff* at a heart that has submitted, a mind that is fighting against the lies. No!

With all my heart I hope, that as I go through life, faithfully falling on these verses & truths in times of fear, that it will become more automatic. My natural process instead of my current process. (Lie, fear, escalation, emotionally falling apart, remembering God, speaking His truths, turning them into a mantra in my head, & embracing the subsequent peace.)
Perhaps this peace process is similar to making a candle. Dipping a wick into hot melted wax, pulling it up to let it dry then dipping it back again. Over and over and over and over and over and...ha you get the picture. Slowly building bayer after layer of protection. The wick being more and more protected. Not that I will ever on this earth be immune to the lies & the fear I can be hit with. A candle can be melted or cut right to the core. But after years of practice I hope that my first response will be faith and trust instead of panic & fear.

That being said...I desperately need to go study my Bible! Get some new tools in this place!
My heart and prayers with you all. We can do this, helping each other & we will meet with success because of Who we lean upon.

"A person standing alone can be attacked and defeated, but two can stand back-to-back and conquer. Three are even better, for a triple-braided cord is not easily broken." Ecclesiastes 4:12



*
Deuteronomy 31:6
Jeremiah 29:11-12
Matthew 5:3-12
1 Corinthians 1:27