If you’re a follower of the news, then nothing in this blog will surprise you. You\u2019ve seen the chaos, heard the shouting, and felt the weight of the dismay blanketing our world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And if you\u2019re not a news follower — well, you just might be living in a sweet spot of God\u2019s amazing grace in your corner of the world. Either way, I imagine you\u2019ve asked the same question I have:
Is there a way to stay informed, stay interceding, and still stay in peace?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I believe there is. It begins with thanksgiving.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The truly thankful person is a truly peaceful person \u2013 no matter what. Thankful people have created a habit of noticing, pausing and choosing.
Noticing something to be thankful for, even in the midst of chaos.
Pausing to acknowledge that something as evidence of God\u2019s presence.
Choosing to dwell on His presence until His peace overwhelms our panic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We are living in a season of angst and drama \u2013 from the classrooms to Capitol Hill. Parents are worried about what\u2019s in schoolbooks. Protesters are torching cars. It\u2019s exhausting just to keep up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But what if we take the higher ground? What if we become noticers, pausers, choosers?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Daniel gave thanks before the lions came.
Jonah cried out with thanksgiving before the fish released him.
Paul and Silas? Singing in the prison with thanksgiving. And what does Paul tell us?
\u201cDo not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.\u201d (Philippians 4:6)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And the result? \u201cThe peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.\u201d (Philippians 4:7)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Today, friend, let\u2019s notice. Let\u2019s pause. Let\u2019s choose. Let\u2019s trade our anxious hearts for thankful ones\u2014and walk straight into peace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dear Lord,
Help me notice Your goodness in every circumstance today. Teach me to pause and see it for what it is\u2014a reminder that I am not alone. And give me the strength to choose Your presence over panic, Your peace over fear. In Jesus\u2019 Name, Amen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
If you’re a follower of the news, then nothing in this blog will surprise you. You\u2019ve seen the chaos, heard the shouting, and felt the weight of the dismay blanketing our world. And if you\u2019re not a news follower — well, you just might be living in a sweet spot of God\u2019s amazing grace in…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22013,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[333,1210,3652,31701,18908,31693,267,40,30323,44,996,1281,997,31703,31702,31692,31704,783,863,775],"class_list":["post-22012","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-amazing-grace","tag-blog","tag-chaos","tag-choosing","tag-daniel","tag-dismay","tag-faith","tag-inspiration","tag-jonah","tag-peace","tag-peace-of-god","tag-peaceful","tag-philippians-46","tag-protesters","tag-schoolbooks","tag-shouting","tag-silas","tag-sweet-spot","tag-thankful","tag-thanksgiving"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22012","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=22012"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22012\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22021,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22012\/revisions\/22021"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/22013"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=22012"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=22012"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=22012"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}