It’s the shine of more. It’s the clean of perfect. It’s togetherness and wholeness.
It looks nothing like me.
I look like tiredness personified.
I look like worry building upon worry.
I look like one who tries to trust – but still doubts.
I look like a battlefield where godliness goes up against selfishness.
I look like a girl trying to fit herself into mold “good mom.”
That’s me. Not so shiny. Not very sparkly. Hardly.
It feels hard to keep the glimmer of Christ existent amidst the grime of this life.
But, what if glimmer was not me – or you? What if the pressure was off? What if glimmer was just a matter of letting God’s light bust through our darkness?
What would that look like?
God’s glory is always found within our tension points (Romans 5:3). It is a hard thing to consider, isn’t it? Usually, we run from these places, thinking they spots sent to inflict pain. Little do we know that sometimes, these exact spots, when pushed are what are going to deliver us to freedom – and to greater mobility to reach the world.
Where we feel pressed, God is working things out, so one day, we land at – blessed.
We shimmer. We shine. We find glory!
Do we believe it is possible?
Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings,
because we know that suffering produces…
(Romans 5:3)
When great joy emerges out of great struggle, people notice. Glory!
When peace is found over hardship. Glory!
When God grants unspeakable calm in the midst of doggone electricity storm. Glory!
When insight speaks into an impossible situation. Glory! Glimmer! Sparkle! Shine! Power! Light unquenchable.
When we endure and then endure and then say, “No matter what Heaven awaits!” Glory!
We can lean into pain, knowing that God, by his very nature,will always use it – for spiritual gain. In that we can trust.
Is it hard? Yes. Impossible. No.
It is not, because it is also a work of the Holy Spirit – he makes you go about all Tigger-style, abounding in hope (Romans 5:13).
Hope is:
Seeing Jesus constructing mission out of our pain. Imagining people changed after relational turbulence. Standing on God’s masterplan rather than our personal ones. Believing that God really is at work to make us into Christ’s image. Going beyond self, to reach the nations. Thanking God for the new thing he is building in us. Understanding the cross and all the pain that came with it. Looking at the captives and depressives and wanting to love them. Getting a feeling that we have to pass around. Knowing we found home and longing for the fullness of it to come.
Hope. It is all you need to sparkle, no matter how you feel. Nothing can steal it. No one can rob it of you. It is a knowledge you’ll be blessed, even if you straight up land at heaven’s gates.
Let it sing in you. Let it rise from you. Walk in its fullness and feel its freedom – then hand it out to all you meet.
“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing,
so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.” Romans 5:13
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I watched them from my window – little things plucking around on the ground.
“How do they do it?” I thought.
Casually they grazed, moved and explored. Even though there were nearly a dozen, still, they didn’t bump each other. They didn’t fight for a grain of food. They didn’t seem to lose their joy. Storms, concerns and cold-fronts, from my observations, were worries not for this day.
They just relaxed. They just were.
Did they know a great, gracious and giving God was in charge?
I couldn’t help but think they did.
Two jumped up and began a light-hearted chase.
A coupled bounced up to the height of tall trees.
One sung by the waterside.
It seemed they choose to see life appeared as an fun adventure, where the present moment was full of blessed surprises. These birds inspired me to new thinking.
Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Mt. 6:26
How do we live?
Do we look at the world through the eyes of God’s bounty or eyes of inequity?
Where resources are limited and good things elude us?
To see bounty, is to have a perspective like this:
God sees.
He decides.
He provides.
He has so much.
He pours out.
There is a never-ending supply.
He delights in giving.
He loves our thanks.
He rejoices over our freedom.
He personally goes before us.
He gives so much it overflows to the poor.
We live not in a faltering economy, but in God’s economy.
It is an economy of faith. One where we may not know where our next grain or gain is coming from. One where we may feel like we are about to go under. One where circumstances get shaky. But, it is also an economy where daddy is the chief strategist – the man in charge. He loves nepotism and we are his and he is ours. He will take care of us.
Do you rely on the chief strategist in a way where
you believe he only hands out his best intentions?
Enter the forest of bounty. It is verdant and vibrant. It is all you need and all you could ever want. It is the place where you are taken care of and known.
Believe in the bounty that awaits, even for a small one like you; God will take care of you.
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All was good and dandy, until my mind started it’s endless twirling. I know you all have experienced it. It’s when you come face-to-face with that mean, burly voice that deeply grunts out, “What if?”
What if things don’t work out?
What if you get taken advantage of?
What if God doesn’t take care of you?
When we listen to that voice of misreason,
He almost always convinces us we’re moving into a bad season.
But, when we shut down that voice at first grunt,
we start to believe God is in front of us.
Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the LORD will personally go ahead of you. He will be with you; he will neither fail you nor abandon you.
Deut. 31:8
I am beginning to realize it comes down to a split-second decision. If you can quickly identify the voice that beckons you into the darkness, you can choose to stay in the light. If you don’t realize who he is, you are bound to get lured in like a kid following sweet candy.
Will we listen for the voice of God or continually debate the antagonizer’s?
I know friends, it is not easy. Making the decision to hear and only hear the right voice is a battle. It is one where we have to grab the mindset and the determined will power to believe rightly about God’s righteousness.
But, it is possible. It looks like getting pro-active. It looks like getting smart about who God is. It looks like pledging allegiance to a King.
It goes like this:
I declare God is with me. He is Immanuel (Mt. 1:23). I know he is Wonderful Counselor. He is consoling me (Is. 9:6). I envision Mighty God – the one able to do the impossible (Is. 9:6). I have the Prince of Peace by my side. He will calm me as I turn into him (Is. 9:6). I know God saved me. I will rest there (Lu. 2:11). I trust the bread of life will feed me when I need to be fed (Jo. 6:35). I pledge my heart to the one and only light of the world (Jo. 8:12). I profess the good shepherd stands next to me and tends to my heart (Jo. 10:14) I reassert my heart to the great deliverer – the one who delivers again and again (Ro. 11:26) I know the way, the truth and the life, for I know Jesus (Jo. 14:6)
An amazing thing that happens when one’s mind carries these names on little notecards; they stand on them during the horrid and horrific moments. They stand on them as if they were tall walls moving them above the fray. And in a way they do.
On paper, they are just words, but when they are stood upon in a heart, they become fortresses of unbeatable power.
The name of the Lord is a strong tower; The righteous run to it and are safe.
Prov. 18:10
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I know, I know, this is going to sound weird. I am infatuated with the whole idea of airplane take-offs. Always have been.
I feel the rumblings of something new, the speed towards adventure and the call towards something greater.
I love it.
New places.
New people.
New encounters.
New opportunities.
New feelings.
Usually, as the plane rises, I know I am about ready to head to somewhere better. The stress is off; I have no control over the speed, the timing and the path – it is all in the captain’s hands. It is a trusting kind of thing; I know he will do his job.
I wonder though, why day-by-day I don’t rise with this same sort of
eager expectation towards life?
What really makes it any different?
I could wake excited. Knowing God will send me.
I could look expectantly. Believing God will lead me.
I could anticipate. Seeing life from the heights new opportunities.
I could be willing. Letting in feelings of purpose and passion, all the while – nodding yes.
All vision of my end destination belongs to him. All the controls are in his hands.
Why not let go?
We need no plans, except to be with him. He steers, we fly. He leads, we end up at the good works he has already designed for us.
If we have expectancy,
we won’t be prone to live complacency.
We see new journeys.
New heights.
New views.
New callings.
New pressures that he alone manages.
And right in the center of it all is our chosen seat. The one that allows us to enjoy the heights of his glory, the sprawling colors of his ownership and the gentle covering of his clouds.
So we go. We let go. We move. We explore. We adventure.
Tomorrow, let the morning alarm goes off. But, take a new look at your new day. Let expectations rise and – fly.
Will you join us? Sure, there may be turbulence,
but rest assured there will be magnificence too.
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She said to me, “If you see my face and I look not as happy, just know it is because some things are hurting right now.”
I loved her honesty. I think she felt like she owed me something though; I think she felt like she had to prove that she, as a Christian, was okay to feel down. It kind of bothered me.
Jesus didn’t say, “Happy face required” to follow me.”
He didn’t say, “Pull yourself together and say what I want to hear.”
He didn’t say, “If you are having a hard time, you can’t be near me.”
He didn’t say, “Isolate yourself in a little bubble of protection if you feed sad.”
On the contrary he said, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”Mt. 11:28
Notice, he doesn’t say: I will give you giggles, a smile and a facade that looks all squeeky clean.
Here is what I have to say to you, brothers and sisters today, who are struggling:
It is okay to feel down, Jesus can handle it.
It is okay to wonder the whens, whys and hows – and to bring them to the Lord.
It is okay to tell us you are struggling, we often are too.
It is okay to say you need time away to pray; God will show up.
Greater is God than your greatest weakness.
God is mighty to save you from anything and everything.
Deep learning is in the deep reflection found through pain.
Trials that peel away self, so we find self looking a whole lot more like Christ.
Jesus suffered. He gets you and your pain.
There is no kind of bad attitude that will push God away from you.
Keep going.
Keep loving.
Keep surrendering.
He has you.
Keep abiding.
Keep asking.
Keep listening.
He will not abandon you.
Keep pressing on.
Keep moving your feet.
Keep trusting by faith.
He sees you.
Days will pass, emotions will ride out – and before you know it – you will be in a new season.
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God. If you look for him, you’ll find him. If you keep looking for him, you will find him some more. If you don’t stop looking, he’ll invite you in deeper and deeper, fuller and fuller and farther and farther.
He invites you.
Do you notice the welcome?
It is a white owl taking flight into the darkness,
a place where you are not sure what will happen.
Are you willing to go?
We don’t have to know where we’re going, just that Christ is taking us.
Another invitation.
He stands by the water,
arms open,
ready to hug you,
ready to feel your complete innocence, purity and beauty.
Will you allow him to hold you this way? Will you accept it as true?
It is often by faith, we receive the fullness of his love.
It arrives again.
You may not see it.
You may not notice it.
It sits right outside your window.
The colors are brilliant, the majesty spreads across the sky;
it reminds all of the orchestrator and creator of things big and small.
Will you take a second to look or will you continue to be rushed and busy with other things?
By keeping an eye on the one above our trial, we remember how all things work out under his might.
He calls.
Will you open your heart?
It’s another invitation.
Daddy waits…
Hoping beloved breaks out to run to him.
Seeing a grand return and his glorious rescue.
He doesn’t need strong; he loves weary; he can handle it.
Do you see him waiting to rescue and love you every minute?
In every weary and heart-wrecking task, God waits to rescue you time and time again. Will we accept his invitation?
He knocks,
in a way where it nags your soul.
You know you should, but can you? Can you open up?
Surely, it is an invitation, but will you permit it to be so?
For it hurts far more than it feels good to do.
Still, daddy, he is pushing you just a little to step out.
Will you listen or ignore?
Will you forgive or forget and pretend it never happened – like you always do?
He wants to do it for you. He wants to finally unclutter your heart of it’s bitterness to make room for his fullness.
We think our unforgiveness is right, but only one is right and that is Jesus and he says to forgive.
The invitations they never end for those with eyes to see and those with ears to hear.
It is a symphony of sympathy that plays the most desired harmony of humanity.
Yet, if you are busy, you’ll drive right past it.
If you are worried, your mind will not have space to receive it.
If you are distracted, you will blab on your phone, rather than hear his whisper.
It is an invitation for those who want more.
Who call out more.
Who long more.
Who ask more.
Who need more.
Who desire more.
You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. Jer. 29:13
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Have you ever considered that life is just made up of a series of waits?
You wait to get through school.
You wait to find a spouse.
You wait to hear back from that job.
You wait to know if it is cancer.
You wait to see if your dreams ever will come true.
You wait with hope that a person might do something differently.
You wait and wonder if you will be rejected again.
You wait to go to heaven.
You wait and then you wait some more, nearly agonizing over every moment.
Waiting feels like grueling torture. It feels like a good God went into hiding. It feels like waiting for a hand-out from one who may not. It feels like doors shut. It feels like mountains unscalable. It feels uncertain. It feels like agony. It feels like…if-I-have-to-go-through-this-one-more-time-I-am-gonna…!
Why does a good God torture us?
Even more, why does he seem to love every minute of it?!
Therefore, return to your God, Observe kindness and justice, and wait for your God continually. Hos. 12:6
Wait for the LORD; Be strong and let your heart take courage; Yes, wait for the LORD. Ps. 27:14
Wait. He says. Wait again, he says. Wait well. Wait with courage. Wait with strength.
God knows something, we don’t often consider: Waiting is our wrestling ground with faith. It is here, where a believer gets on the mat, dukes it out and gets down to the heart of the situation, “Will I really believe?”
It is here where one rises up in victory, arms to the sky,
saying, “He is good. He has me. I trust” or
where they fall to the ground saying, “Curse God and die.”
Which way to do things tend to play out in your life?
Do you rise to trust a working God or do you fall
to your own strategies, plans, executions and wounds?
God is not preparing us for nothing, he is preparing us for his everything.
But as for me, I will watch expectantly for the LORD;
I will wait for the God of my salvation My God will hear me. Mi. 7:7
The more we need God, the more we call on God.
The more we call on God, the more we lean on God.
The more we lean on God, the more we find God.
The more we find God, the more we rejoice in his greater gift.
We start to explode with greater vision. It transcends just the here and now, but it reaches out a hand to eternity to clip it and draw it near.
Things like this happen to waiters who are also trusters:
1. They want outta here! They rely on the eternal joy that sits just over the finish line called life. …even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body.” Romans 8:23
2. They end up hoping in the right thing, rather than their demanded thing. And now, Lord, for what do I wait? My hope is in You. Ps. 39:7
3. They sit and see that the Lord is always fighting for them. Our soul waits for the LORD; He is our help and our shield. Ps. 33:20
4. They see God doesn’t give them their best answers, but his. Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the LORD’s purpose that prevails. Ps. 19:21
5. They look back and see, that far beyond what they wanted, was what God wanted. They see that they look a whole bunch more like Jesus. …knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope… Romans 5:4
6. All of a sudden they see God’s huge dump truck show up. It backs up and unloads, dumping in far greater weights of love than they ever expected. …and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. Romans 5:4
Are you a waiter and a truster or a hater and agonizer? Lean in. Lay back. Let go. Find hope. Great hope. Life-breathing hope…
Hope is waiting and believing – God will. Hope is knowing he is able – and we are not. Hope is calling out in prayer and believing. Hope is knowing God is above our situation rather than smothered and struggling under it. Hope is knowing his best plan is above ours. Hope is knowing his nature sees and cares. Hope is standing confident his timing could not be better. Hope is moving forward with joy. Hope is finding peace. Hope is leaning back and laying down into God’s love. Hope is not listening to outside voices, but Jesus’. Hope is not devising and strategizing. Hope is the greater expectation of God’s exaltation in our lives. Hope is the grain of longing for that greater thing he’s doing. Hope is seeing past feelings to the very being of Jesus that is being formed in us.
..those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. Is. 40:31
That is hope; it is otherwise known as “waiting and believing well.”
May we do it.
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I stared out the window. The outside was about ready to teach my insides a deep lesson.
What caught my eyes were two birds frolicking, jumping and having fun. They didn’t care; they chased, played and enjoyed the beauty of the day. Before not too long, a few friends even joined in. Life seemed to be a blessing not a burden.
I think they had no idea of when the next storm was approaching, but all they same, it didn’t seem to matter.
They didn’t seem worried about what they didn’t have;
they just went about enjoying what they did.
What is it you don’t yet have?
What is it that distracts your eyes from beauty?
I know it’s crazy, but wonder if somehow birds have an understanding that we don’t, like:
1. God’s nature is to forever take care of me. It is impossible for him not too.
2. Every season eventually ends and God provides. I will trust that.
3. God is who he is. Just as he makes the sun come up every morning and the moon fall, he will be true to his word.
4. I don’t have to fear I’ll be hungry for my next best thing, God remains my best thing.
5. “This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it.” (Psalm 118:24)
I want to be like these birds – free to fly high. Soaring. Enjoying. Living.
Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Matthew 6:26
I try to store away so much:
Stress.
I fill myself with action plans.
Fear.
I load up on maneuvers to self-protect.
Distraction.
I let it divert my mind from what God wants to heal.
Frustration.
I let my storehouse get shaky because God hasn’t yet shown up.
What do you store in your barn?
When we fill our barns to the brink, we always feel about to sink.
But, when we trust that God will provide the next meal, we are ready to fly.
We break out of molds. We rise up from our nest. We don’t think about the next storm. We approach the edge of our safety and we jump out to dance in the air of providence.
We remember his voice of faithfulness, the “I will take care of you” voice. We hear it rise to its heights.
It sounds like:
1. Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land. For I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.” Gen. 28:15
2. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. Heb. 13:8
3. Cast all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. 1 Pet. 5:7
4. And Moses said to the people, “Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will work for you today… (Ex. 14:13)
5. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16)
God is calling us to delight in the gap between of uncertainty and his next big gift. Will we?
Will we choose to delight in his faithfulness or die in ungratefulness?
I don’t want to settle for second worst when I have second best. What I want to do is run, jump and fly with God to the places he has set to take me. Care to join me?
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It was the tipping point. The beginning of the fall. No, it wasn’t a crash, a sudden impact dive that you didn’t see coming. I saw this coming. I could feel it making its way toward me and yet, I was entirely helpless to stop it.
It was a slow, distinct unraveling. That moment where you can feel the wheels teetering ever so slightly out of balance until the whole thing comes unhinged. My heart, that is.
This was the season of my undoing.
I was quite certain I had never planned for this. My life was a well-structured agenda of fortitude, perseverance, accomplishments. They needed me in some misconstrued way, yet I needed them more.
From my earliest memories, I can recall that feeling, deep in my bones, that insane and horrific gnawing that I was not enough. That I would have to prove myself. I needed to be special. I needed to feel worthy. Loved.
I heard people say, If you try hard enough, you can accomplish anything.
I believed them.
So I set my face like flint against the wind, I measured my sails, and I set out to prove my worth to the world.
Whatever it takes, that was my motto.
Whether that meant hours of studying or practicing to be good enough. Whether it meant endless miles running wrapped in plastic wrap to be skinny enough, I did it. That was me.
I thought there would be some point where I arrived. Where I would attain. Where I would be enough.
Yet, inside I knew there was something adrift. If I was quiet enough, I could hear the tremors begin to quake. I felt the muffled pangs just beneath the surface.
I told myself, Just keep pushing and everything will turn out fine.
So I kept pushing. I pushed real good for awhile. I achieved what many said I’d never achieve. Nobody noticed the foundation beginning to crumble around me. I noticed.
I wanted to be healed. I longed to know what wholeness felt like. I craved peace more than anything I could imagine.
That must be for someone else, I thought, but it must not be for me.
I often felt like the woman in Scripture reaching out, desperate to touch the threads that lined the hem of Jesus’ robe. Surely if I could touch Him, she must have thought, then I would be healed. (Mark 5:21-34)
I understood the longing of the blind man, who day after day, hoped and prayed that he would one day see. How could he have known his Savior, his Healer would come with a little clay and a little spit near the pool of Siloam and give him everything he’d ever hoped for. How? (John 9:1-12)
I could see myself like Peter, shivering in the waves and wind as he stepped out of the boat onto the Sea of Galilee. If only I had enough fortitude to keep my eyes on Jesus, I could have walked on water without sinking beneath the waves of doubt and fear that pulled me under. (Matthew 14:22-33)
And then my healing came. Not in the way you’d expect. Jesus ushered me into a sacred place. A sacred season. Jesus led me to this season of healing and He never let go.
I heard Him whisper to me, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”Matthew 11:28-30 (NIV)
I needed rest.
God gave me rest and He gave me so much more. Over the years of my healing journey, I discovered an abundance that was more than I had ever imagined. God was showing me how to build and live a life of peace. It was all I had ever hoped for. Longed for. To breathe. To feel solid and sure. To experience wholeness. To experience abundance. Physical abundance, spiritual abundance, emotional abundance.
3 Ways To Walk From Pain to Peace
Embrace Maximized HOPE! – Without a doubt your hope lies first and foremost in the person of Jesus Christ. He is your foundation spiritually, emotionally, and physically. As you learn to appropriate His hope, His healing into the emotional area of your life, you will experience the fullness, the abundance of hope He promises.
Jeremiah 29:11(NIV) states, “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
Discover Complete WHOLENESS! – God wants you to be not only healed, but whole. God doesn’t want his children limping through life, barely surviving. He wants you to thrive. He wants you to discover your unique calling, your passion and purpose so that you can make a difference for His kingdom. As individuals become whole, the entire body of Christ becomes whole.
2 Timothy 1:7 (AMP) tells us that, “God did not give us a spirit of timidity (of cowardice, of craven and cringing and fawning fear), but [He has given us a spirit] of power and of love and of calm and well- balanced mind and discipline and self-control.”
Enjoy Enduring HARMONY! – You were not meant to live in chaos. Your relationships were never supposed to be a rollercoaster of pain and disappointment. God wants us to learn how to foster peace and strength in our relationships so that we can enjoy them without being dependent on them for our happiness or wellbeing.
Romans 15:5-6 (AMP) shares, “Now may the God Who gives the power of patient endurance (steadfastness) and Who supplies encouragement, grant you to live in such mutual harmony and such full sympathy with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may [unanimously] with united hearts and one voice, praise and glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah).
This is the life God has for you. Don’t settle for anything less than Maximized Hope, Complete Wholeness and Enduring Harmony. In my book, Peace for a Lifetime– Embracing a Life of Hope, Wholeness, and Harmony through Emotional Abundance, I walk with readers through whatever season of life they are in, and lay out simple, practical life-steps that will help them find healing and will nurture abundance in every area of their lives.
You don’t have to keep trying so hard to prove your worth. You don’t have to keep pushing, hoping that everything will turn out okay. Healing isn’t just for someone else. Healing is for you.
Jesus is whispering to you, Come to me…
Will you come to Him today? Will you accept the peace He has for you? Will you let Him walk you from your season of pain right into His peace?
You can experience the love for which you long.
You can experience abundance beyond anything you can imagine.
You can experience peace, not just for today, not just for tomorrow.
You can experience peace —for a lifetime.
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About Lisa Murray
Lisa is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, author, coffee lover, and wife. Her online community lisamurrayonline.com provides a compassionate place in the midst of the stresses and struggles of life. While she grew up in the Florida sunshine, she and her husband now live just outside Nashville in Franklin, TN.
About Peace for a Lifetime
In her new book, Peace for a Lifetime, Lisa Murray shares the keys to cultivating a life that’s deeply rooted, overflowing, and abundant, the fruit of which is peace. Through personal and professional experience as a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, Lisa discovered how to take the broken pieces of life and find indestructible peace with herself, God and others. Through Lisa and other’s stories you’ll realize you can experience peace, not just for today, but you can experience peace —for a lifetime
I’ve noticed, I am the type that reacts:
A person says something slightly offensive. I take it personally.
My friend makes a comment on how I can improve. I feel thrown off.
My husband gives a suggestion. I get sensitive.
I have noticed this internally too:
I mess up. I get angry at myself–even after I have confessed it.
I get far from God. I burden myself with things I must do to get closer.
I get distracted from people and life. I feel that coming back around to them will be hard.
It all comes down to doubt, doesn’t it? Doubt that God is good enough to handle my baseline fears. Doubt that God will come through when I can’t. Doubt that I really can be better than I am today, right?
Doubt is the undercurrent that drags us away from God. Doubt is the driver of most dumb moves. Doubt is the deliverer of the desperate to dealings with the devil.
I know this sounds extreme, but it is true. Push Jesus 5 steps away from your heart and that is a 5-step opportunity for the opponent to rush in to make you question everything.
We tend to believe in this thing called,
“the benefit of the doubt,” but I think what we really need to believe in is
“the benefit of grace.”
That person cuts you off on the road. “She must be having a hard day. God bless her as she drives home.” Benefit of Grace!
That supposed friend ignores you at church. “Perhaps she has her own fears. Maybe I can send her an email and check in.” Benefit of Grace!
That kid again doesn’t listen. “Hmm…it is not that they don’t respect me, but it’s that they want to have a little say. Let me remind them of God’s love and his never ending source of power in them a little later.” Benefit of Grace!
That man wants to be a show off and be prideful again. “Maybe he so fears loss of control, he has to overcompensate by having all control. Affirm him.” Benefit of Grace!
I did that thing I didn’t want to do. Now, I can’t ever let it go. “Jesus already let it go on the cross. He keeps no record of wrongs. He waits for you.” Benefit of Grace!
I am far from God. It is all my fault. I have no idea what to do. “Jesus knows this too; he is not angry with me. He waits and hopes that I can draw near and find his love.” Benefit of Grace!
Finding the benefit of grace, means we finding a wellspring of peace. Discouragement gets covered by the sacrifice of Living Water and we wade in the encouragement that this hope brings.
Grace makes us see perspectives differently.
With grace, we notice:
God works far better than we ever could.
The small thing he’s doing, rather than what we’re ruining.
We build into relationships, rather than destroy them.
Our hope for the hopeless situation – and a will to continue on.
We notice that mistakes, errors and offenses aren’t beacons of our future,
but undercover blessings helping us to forge trust that lasts.
Stepping back means we get to see God’s restoration step in, both in our lives and in the life of another.
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Lisa
In her new book, 