REBUILDING LIVES
Our life can be such a mess!
If you sit down and make a list of the things in your life that are now messy, it is obvious you need to do some rearranging or try making changes to help clean up the mess. I am sure your list seems like the impossible to change. Echoes of blame towards your ex-spouse is still climbing to shouts above your own breath. Joint parental rights and the child favouritism over a specific parent is exhausting your mental energy. Financial adjustments and barely paying the bills on time, while you struggle to find a relaxing moment without monetary worries. Your friends, church, workplace, and prayer life are radically changing, or put on hold, or they have almost diminished in life. Your toxic habits are getting worse and face you with greater challenges. You spend many late night hours in tears or anger because of the added troubles and worries of this life after divorce. I want to remind you of a better way to live! Jesus and Today!
Jesus and Today!
Near the beginning of Jesus' sermon on the mount He speaks of troubles and worries then concludes to cast away our thoughts and worries of tomorrow. Today has enough troubles of its own so always begin with "today'. Besides, Jesus also said tomorrow will have enough troubles of its own. When our worries are stacked high and we stop and think about what we need to do today to address those worries, each day will always be action-packed if we choose to embrace by just worrying instead of doing something about it. If your worries have convinced you that there is nothing you can do about your situation, then you will be stuck in tomorrow. The only tomorrows we as humans seem to enjoy are the vacations we have scheduled on our calendars. The sad part about those vacations is we still stress about everything while on those vacations. We wish we could never stress about the 'todays', that everyday be a vacation without worries.
I have personally lived a time in my adulthood without worry and it was peaceful. I believe the biggest factor in my peaceful years was due to the loved ones surrounded in my life. Everything was always seeming to go in the right direction. I also believe why everything was so smooth because it was also a time in my life where myself and the others around me were most closest to God in unity. Then tomorrow stepped into our lives. My family experienced a job movement and our everyday worry-free life also changed. Financial adjustments, making new friends, understanding the new community, learning the new job; the list of new things was huge and we felt we needed to adjust quickly to get back to the peace we once had. Feeling forced into the worries of tomorrow was sometimes awful. Our discussions each evening was full of pondering questions. "I wonder if they like me?" "Will the higher house loan cut our savings substantially?" "Is the new school right for our kids?" "Do I really like my new job?" Jesus and today are important spiritual standards to live by when we face many new trials. When divorce strikes you, Jesus and today will bring peace into your life.
Peace in Your Life
If my life is a raging sea then I must pray to God to hear these three words to be spoken into my life, "Peace, be still!" If Jesus could calm the sea using these three words I guarantee the Holy Spirit would only need to breath the words into your ear without having to shout. "Peace, be still", and the troubles and worries within your life will all come to a calm. Do you believe that? I hope you do. When Jesus healed people it immediately changed their life. When Jesus died on the cross He immediately took all your sins upon Himself and suffered in your place. Immediately only happens today, never tomorrow. Tomorrow may be when some of the battles must take place, but God always spoke of the things of today He was going to be doing for our tomorrows. God's plan was already determined and what He would speak today was already carried through tomorrow's actions. This is where God's Word tells us that we must let Him be in control. Isaiah 46:9-10 says, "Remember the former things of old, for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me. Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things that are not yet done, saying, 'My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure.' God's salvation for His people was of the yesterday for our today and tomorrow's. Our yesterday happened from our beginning in the garden. God has always been in control and we must understand to submit to His Lordship if we are to know peace within His Son Jesus.
