Life is still crazy, but things are starting to wrap up and/or get into a groove more, so I figure it's time for a small update just to share something that's on my heart tonight.
I still will never forget the night that Pastor Dan preached on this passage at prayer meeting many many months ago. Apparently he preached on it recently at a Wednesday night service (sermon available here: "5 Steps to a Peaceful Life"). I may not get the exact points he talked about that night, but basically the idea was this: to receive the peace of God, there are certain things we need to do. We need to rejoice in all circumstances, always be nice (because we never, never, never have a reason to be mean as a Christian), realize God's presence and role in our life, pray about everything (to eliminate doubt), and be thankful for everything.
I saw that truth in my life today.
I have been having a rough time with my job (more on that when I have more time to write). I had a really hard time getting out of bed this morning, but once I did, for whatever reason, I just started thanking God for everything I could think of. I wasn't even sure if I was repeating myself at times or not, but I just kept saying "Thank you for ______." Throughout the day, I did the same thing. Anytime something irritating happened, I just stopped and said, "Thank you for ____," whether it was related to the situation or not. I did not allow myself to get emotionally wrapped up in classroom management today, even in really aggravating moments of complete stupidity and disrespect.
You know what? From an outside view, it was still a tough day. It's still the same job. But my attitude, my feeling leaving the school, was not animosity, not loathing the idea of going back.
It was an attitude of hope.
One day down. . . one day at a time. . . just gotta follow His formula. I'm choosing to rejoice, to be nice, to be aware, to pray unceasingly, and continue in a spirit of thankfulness.
On a somewhat related side note, I have been seeing the power of prayer unfold in my life, and it is amazing. I think sometimes that our concepts of prayer is that we close our eyes in church while someone else talks and we (far too often) make a flippant statement before we eat. . . and that's about it. I challenge you to try this out (especially any of you who have a hard time falling asleep because your mind works on overdrive at night)- instead of listening to music or TV or whatever static noise right before you go to sleep, just spend time in prayer to the point where you actually fall asleep talking to God about whatever it is on your mind. And pray with others, ideally a small group (like a Sunday School class or family unit). Pray for others. You never know how encouraging it can be to hear someone else speaking aloud a request to God for your sake. What a gift; what an offering! And what a privilege to be able to do that for others.
Why wasn't I doing all this before?
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