Tag: peace

Holiday RUSH or Christmas REST?

Lisa Preuett

Whether you want to be or not, you’re right smack in the middle of the Christmas season. Do you find yourself feeling rushed? Overwhelmed?

I’ve got to finish my shopping!

I’ve got to get this house cleaned up before my family arrives!

Get out of the kitchen so I can bake the cookies!

We have three Christmas parties to attend on the same day!

If you’re anything like me, just thinking about everything that needs to be done can leave you feeling exhausted. It’s almost impossible to escape the holiday rush.

There’s an ache in my soul because of this! Do you know what I mean?

It’s that pull between everything that has to be done and everything your heart longs for.

A battle between rush and rest.

Are you kidding me? There’s no time to rest during the holidays!! How in the world can you think about rest at such a time as this?

But if we let the holiday rush overtake the Christmas rest, then everything we are doing is in vain.

I’ve often thought that embracing rest meant that I had to carve out a huge block of time for a nap.

Or that I had to sit completely still with my feet up.

Maybe you’ve thought of rest as getting to turn off your alarm and sleep in.

But I’m learning that embracing rest is more about having a peace in my soul. 

Maybe I can’t take anything off my busy to-do list this Christmas season, but I can shift my attitude about those things.

Instead of rushing out the door with a frantic sense of urgency, maybe I can pause for just a few moments to pray.

God, I’m feeling frustrated, anxious and exhausted! Please give me your peace.

Instead of feeling burdened about baking dozens of cookies, perhaps I can turn on some music and pray for the people I’m making them for.

God, help me have an attitude of love as I bake these cookies!

Maybe we really do have to attend multiple parties on the same day. But instead of thinking of them as places to go, we can see them as opportunities to love people.

Lord, help me to show love to those who need it most. Give me your eyes to see those you want me to see.

The days leading up to the birth of Jesus without a doubt brought a sense of urgency.

We’ve got to hurry! Will there be a place for us to stay?

Mary and Joseph most certainly felt a heavy burden of having to travel at the last-minute. And I’m sure they battled anxious thoughts of this new chapter of life God was calling them into.

Why me? Couldn’t he have picked someone else? What will people think when we return to Nazareth?

What appeared to be a messed up plan, absent of any peace, was God ushering in the Prince of Peace.

Right in the middle of the rush. Right in the middle of the urgency. Right in the middle of their worry.

And the same Prince of Peace that came on that first Christmas morning is the same Prince of Peace that can bring us REST in the midst of our holiday RUSH.

So what’s it going to be for you this year? Rush or Rest? Anxiety or Peace?

I encourage you to carve out some quiet moments in the midst of your busy schedule to embrace the PEACE and REST only Jesus can bring. That’s what He came for!

“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” (Isaiah 9:6)

 

Blessings to you!

Lisa

Check out my devotional book, Embracing The Race

From Impatience to Peace

Lisa Preuett

Whoever is patient has great understanding, but one who is quick-tempered displays folly. (Proverbs 14:29)

I’d just finished composing an important email that needed to go out. All I had to do was hit “send” and I’d be on my way to the next task of the day. But the Wi-fi signal dropped out and my email couldn’t go through.

Ugghh! Really??

 

My daughter needed one last piece of information from the Internet for her school work. After carefully searching for what she needed, I was ready to print. But no. The printer had a mind of its own and stubbornly decided it wasn’t going to print in that moment.

You’ve got to be kidding me! I need this right now! 

I had just enough time to get to my appointment as I happily drove down the highway. Christian music blasting and the sun roof open, I sang cheerfully, soaking up the beautiful afternoon. But suddenly I had to slam on my brakes as traffic came to a screeching halt. A slow truck pulled a trailer behind it, at a whole 25 miles per hour. I was going to be late now!

Come on! Can’t you go faster?? (I said these words out loud as if the driver could actually hear me.)

More often than not, I’ll humbly admit that my level of patience is not good in these moments.

Technology and Traffic. These are the two things that–when they aren’t going my way–try my patience more than anything.

Instead of letting the Holy Spirit work patience in me, I frequently choose to let my flesh drive me in the opposite direction. A direction leading to a quick-tempered attitude. According to the scripture above in Proverbs, this displays folly.

Folly? A fancy word for sin.

This is where the process of sanctification takes place. The areas in which we are most weak are where God wants to work His character in us. The situations that drive us most crazy are where God wants to usher in His peace to replace our impatience.

I honestly feel like a failure in these moments! The moments where I’ve lost my patience and embraced my flesh instead of finding God’s power and following His lead.

What about you? Can you identify the areas of your life where you seem to lose your patience most often?

The moments that trigger the worst in you?

The moments when your calm spirit quickly turns to a chaotic sass?

God is showing me that these are the very opportunities He allows for me to turn to Him. These are the moments in which I get to decide to follow my flesh or surrender to Him. As a teacher continues to test his students until mastery is achieved, our loving Heavenly Father continues to let us encounter these moments until His character comes through.

So the next time I blow it (yes, it will happen!), I can soak up God’s grace and forgiveness and trust that He will give me yet another opportunity to try again. For me it’s traffic and technology. For you it might be something else. But whatever it is, as long as we live on this fallen earth, there will be ample opportunities for God to work patience in us in our most trying moments.

 

Blessings to you!

Lisa Preuett

From Stress to Rest

Lisa Preuett

“A woman who lives with the stress of an overwhelmed schedule will often ache with the sadness of an underwhelmed soul.”

(Lysa TerKeurst from her latest book The Best Yes)

After hearing this truth, I can’t seem to get it out of my heart. In fact, I desire for it to stay there….for good. This truth resonates so deeply in my soul and it makes sense after really digesting it fully. Why? Because this is where I live. This is so often my life in a nutshell. I feel pulled in so many directions. And many of those directions are good things! Yet some of those directions are my own human flesh. Things I want for myself. Things that aren’t part of God’s plan for me.

Oh how I long to fully embrace God’s purpose for me in every area of my life. Every area. My marriage. My parenting. My relationships with friends. Anything God calls me to do.

So if I am feeling overwhelmed, something is wrong. Very wrong. Overwhelmed is not a word I see Jesus using to describe his calling while upon this earth. Overwhelmed is not a word listed in the fruits of the spirit. Overwhelmed is not supposed to be something that describes a follower of Jesus.

Yet we use this word frequently to describe our lives:

I’m overwhelmed with my job.

I’m overwhelmed with my kids’ demands.

I’m overwhelmed with my husband’s expectations.

I’m overwhelmed with serving people.

I’m overwhelmed with everything.

Can you relate to this truth? Do you feel stressed out with an overwhelmed schedule? Do any of the above statements resonate with you? We’re certainly not alone.

So what’s the answer to feeling overwhelmed with all the things we feel pulled to do? Or feel pulled to be?

I do know for certain that my Jesus calls me to rest in Him. To give my burdens to Him. To surrender my soul to Him. The central verse for my life is from the words of Jesus in Matthew,“Come to me all who are weary and heavy burdened and I will give you rest.” While I cling to this truth with my entire being, sometimes I just need something practical to flesh out what this really looks like.

One thing I will be doing over the days ahead is reading the book by Lysa TerKeurst called The Best Yes.  I can already tell it’s going to be profound and speak to where I live. I recommend it to you as well, dear friend.

In the meantime, I’m going to be looking closely at my schedule to make sure it’s God’s schedule. Anything outside of that will bring stress. I want to replace my stress with His rest!

Matthew 11:28 “Come to me all who are weary and heavy burdened and I will give you rest.”

Stressed-Woman-adrenals