Patience and Peace

I think being patient with yourself can almost be harder than being patient with others sometimes. You can't directly control those around you, but you do have control over yourself.


One of the reasons I don't like the state of transition - particularly moving - is because of how long it takes to get resettled. To some extent I feel like an expert: on England Term we relocated every 3-5 days, staying in one place no longer than one week max. Through this experience I learned to be anchored internally no matter the external circumstances that were always changing (like Paul talks about in Philippians 4). I do believe that being content (and feeling settled) doesn't have to do with what's around you, but what is within you. Right now I have every right to be experiencing external and internal chaos as I'm working at my dad's office and at home, one of my brother's is graduating high school in a matter of weeks, I haven't fully unpacked (there are unsorted bags and boxes upstairs and downstairs), and I have numerous thank you notes yet to write much less the rest of my teaching licensure forms to fill out and send back to Bethel.


The good news is that an internal reality of peace is cultivated within me as I surrender to the Holy Spirit, and my internal reality of peace has the power to affect every external reality I walk into. I think Satan frequently presents challenges to us where we're presented with the choice to let circumstances dictate who we are versus letting who we are dictate our circumstances. The bottom line is that Satan is majorly threatened when we know who we truly are in Christ. This is definitely a truth I'm working (and fighting) to be more aware of for myself and I would challenge you with the same. 


My room may be messy and my to-do list may be growing instead of shrinking, but I'm choosing to have patience with myself in the current circumstances of transition because I want to be continually living from a peaceful internal reality that is inspired by the Holy Spirit.