🅦🅔🅔🅚 🅣🅦🅞: 𝕡 𝕖 𝕒 𝕔 𝕖 🕊️
📖 John 14:27 [NLT] “𝙿𝚎𝚊𝚌𝚎 𝙸 𝚕𝚎𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚢𝚘𝚞; 𝚖𝚢 𝚙𝚎𝚊𝚌𝚎 𝙸 𝚐𝚒𝚟𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞. 𝙸 𝚍𝚘 𝚗𝚘𝚝 𝚐𝚒𝚟𝚎 𝚝𝚘 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚊𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚠𝚘𝚛𝚕𝚍 𝚐𝚒𝚟𝚎𝚜. 𝙳𝚘 𝚗𝚘𝚝 𝚕𝚎𝚝 𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚑𝚎𝚊𝚛𝚝𝚜 𝚋𝚎 𝚝𝚛𝚘𝚞𝚋𝚕𝚎𝚍 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚍𝚘 𝚗𝚘𝚝 𝚋𝚎 𝚊𝚏𝚛𝚊𝚒𝚍.”
“𝘿𝙤 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙗𝙚 𝙖𝙛𝙧𝙖𝙞𝙙.” We hear this phrase many times in numerous places of the Bible. It’s so simple, but that doesn’t make it easy.
I struggle with anxiety…the complete opposite of peace. 😬
It is triggered in far too many ways. If I’m being completely honest with myself, it usually doesn’t make sense and I have trouble pin-pointing where it’s even stemming from. I’ve battled anxiety for as long as I can remember, which makes me laugh now as an adult thinking about the anxiety of my childhood. What small things they seem to be now, when they really felt like mountains then. 🏔️
This scripture sat with me, and I found myself thinking about how at the end of the day, I can spend time trying to pin-point the cause of my anxiety, but God tells me He can take it away if I focus on Him. My anxiety is a “gift” of the world, which really should be called “baggage”. I don’t have to take it with me. And I certainly don’t have to wear it around afterwards just to be polite - like that itchy turtleneck sweater your great aunt twice removed got you years ago that you’re guilted into wearing any time you see her to show you’re appreciation. 🤪
Truthfully, I struggle most when people give me the advice to just give it to God. It’s not that easy! I feel shame in admitting that, as it’s the obvious thing to do. It’s frustrating to hold such a weight. Praying helps, especially in the moment. But it comes creeping back when I least expect it, right when I feel like I’m back on top of things. It seems as though every time is harder than the last to remind myself God is with me in this storm, I just have to ask Him for help. Heck, sometimes He’s already helping and I’m just too busy being blinded by whatever insecurity is eating up my mind in that particular moment.
That’s the enemy. My weakness is my anxiety. My weakness is the thoughts I hear inside my head:
😫 “you’re not good enough”
🫠 “you don’t know what you’re talking about”
🫥 “you’re doing it wrong and you will fail”
🙄 “you” followed by whatever negative thing it is that day.
My weakness is listening to the lies of the world that intend to hold me back and cause me to stumble.
Prayerfulness and consistency can and will take us further than we think in the moment, and I’d much rather be holding on to peace than anxiety any day. When I do remember in those moments to pray, I feel a blanket of security fall over me. I can feel all those random anxieties calming and I can also feel myself able to think again, as my brain gets quieter.
🙂↔️ How can you hold onto a little extra peace this week?
I’ll go first: I am choosing to find ways to be more organized for the holidays. This year I DIY’ed gifts instead of buying, so that I could put some extra love into gift-giving. I made sure everything was done far enough in advance so that I don’t have to feel rushed during the next few weeks. In the photos below I have a picture of a bottle. In that bottle is my project that took the longest to make - homemade vanilla extract. I started the batch all the way back in January of this year, and have been patiently waiting for it to be done. I’ve been testing it over the last few months. At 6 months or so, it was ready. I knew it could get better with some more time. Now, at just slightly short of a year of allowing the vanilla beans to really soak, it’s the richest vanilla I’ve ever tasted! 🍨
[How I did it: I purchased a package of ~50 organic vanilla beans. I cut a slit into all of the beans and allowed them to soak in a large bottle of alcohol. I used a combination of vodka and rum, either alone works but I thought a combination would add a unique flavor! It’s absolutely delicious in cookies, pies, and I’ve made a vanilla simple syrup for coffee as well. Use it exactly as you would any store bought extract. A little goes a long way!]
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