Monday, March 7, 2011

The Peaceful Path

I've been a professing born-again Christian for 30 plus years. When I decided to surrender my life to Christ and to live for Him, I knew that I was trading a life filled with anxiety and troubles for a life of peace and joy. I found in Christ what I had truly been longing for, a real heart felt peace, joy, and hope! THEN, LIFE HAPPENED. I began to find out that the peace and joy which initally consumed me became more and more evasive. Don't get me wrong. My new life as a Christian was and is amazing! But the fact of the matter is, to keep this internal peace I must daily surrender to His will and passion, not mine. I have to daily recalculate like a GPS. I get myself back on that PATH OF PEACE by acquiescing to morning prayer, Bible reading and studying. I also live in a conscious state of prayer by continually talking to the Lord and asking the Holy Spirit to lead me throughout my day. Rather than His peace evading me, His presence becomes more real and important to me. This is the life of faith. Faith is trusting God with all of your heart, every day, day in and day out. Christian author A.W. Tozer once said, "There are no dilemmas out of which you shall not be delivered if you live near to God. He goes not amiss who goes in the company of God." James 4:5-10 ( Amplified version) tells us how to draw near to God and says that as we draw near to Him, He will draw near to us. King David said in Psalms 40:1-4 (my story and prayer), "I waited patiently for the Lord, and He heard my cry. He drew me up out of a horrible pit...set my feet on a rock...He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. Many shall see and put their trust and reliance in the Lord. Blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) is the man who makes the Lord his refuge..." I know this to be true! My ambition in life is to continually make the Lord my refuge. He is our peaceful path!