Where do I find my peace?

Do you know the American Sign Language sign for peace?  Let me see if I can accurately describe it to you:  place your right hand on top of your left hand, palms facing each other...lie them this way in front of your chest, arms bent at the elbows, of course.  Then, slowly slide the right hand in a circular motion until the hands are in what looks like a praying hands position, then continue the sliding motion but pull your hands away from each other as though you are sweeping cares away softly.  The whole motion is a nice, smooth circular one....hands together, circle into praying position, then wipe cares away. 

This is peace.  Hands can be wringing in anxiety, rubbing together as though the friction will produce electricity to get your brain working to solve a problem....then, you remember to turn to prayer, to hand struggles over to God's care, to cast all cares on Him, to praise Him and thank Him for the trial...then, He wipes the cares away from you and on to Himself as the sovereign King.  Ahhh....peace of mind.  Someone really big and powerful has all my cares on His back.  Wow.

The heavenly Father has been so gracious to me of late....well, all the time, but you know what I mean when I say, 'of late'...it means I'm really aware of His work, His leading, His teaching me. He's been so merciful.  And it seems He's impressing upon me the same message over and over again.  Peace. It is found in His son.  Circumstances do not change the condition of peace in which I can exist.  As I allow my praise and petitions to transform worry, stress and anxiety into prayer, then I will have the peace of Christ Jesus.  God promises this to be so in His word.  I believe His word.

One praise practice I've adopted for stressful moments is my ABC's of Jesus.  When I get really riled up, nervous, or overwhelmed, I start thinking of Jesus alphabetically.  Adonai, atonement, adored, access to the Father, beautiful, Bridegroom, brother, bread of life, covenant maker, Christ, deliverer, exalted, endless in love, eternal God, faithful, friend, first and last, glorious, good, gracious, holy, hallelujah, high priest, Immanuel, joy, Jesus, justification, king of kings, Lord of lords, lover of my soul,  messiah, master, mediator, name above all names, omnipotent, omnipresent, only true God, prince of peace, powerful, quietness of my heart, redeemer, refuge, rock, righteousness, salvation, sanctification, shelter, truth, unending love, united with the Father, victorious over sin, wonderful, eXalted, Yahshua, Zealous for the  Father's house....and on and on, I go.  By the time I get through the alphabet...I always, not one time has it failed, feel more relaxed and peace filled.  God inhabits the praise of His people, our minds set up him will bring us perfect peace.  So, I know that my mind completely centered on Christ is what leads to peace filled thinking for me.

When we are anxious, we are told in Philippians 4 to think on a certain variety, or quality of things: good, lovely, just, pure, true, of good report, of virtue, of praise....think on such things and the peace of God will guard your mind in Christ Jesus.  God knows what He's talking about, doesn't He? 

There is a powerful choice we must make in this peace search, though.  We must choose what we will think.  We get to choose the topics of our minds - when agitation comes, do we go down the road of insanity, or do we turn to a road of trust, thanksgiving, God's wisdom, and good counsel?  When a loved one is ill, dying, or badly injured, do we go down the panic road, or believe in God's sovereign care, His timing in the number of their days, and His love for them that is greater than our own?  Any number of opportunites arise in which our  minds must take action. Which action or thought process do we choose?

We get to choose.  We have to choose.  The peace is there...already available.  It is not withheld from us at all.  We just have to do the action of moving towards the giver, accept the gift, and use it in our lives.  Peace..the kind found in Jesus, really works.  I promise.