Monthly Archives: January 2024

3 Steps to Releasing Worry and Fear

Fear and Worry

Do you find yourself in a place of fear and worry right now? The stress is building, and you can’t seem to find a way out. There are real problems in life, and things that are absolutely out of our control. Sometimes, it builds to an all-time high, and we feel like we’re drowning.

It’s during these times, that we need to find God’s peace. We need his peace to wrap around us like a warm hug, reassuring us and comforting us.

Finding Peace

We all want to find peace; we crave peace. But sometimes it seems impossible to find. There are just too many pressures. Paul understood this. In fact, he gives us a formula in the book of Philippians to use to find peace.

Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 4:6,7

Here’s the formula Paul lays out:

Don’t worry about anything.

Pray about everything. Tell God what you need.

Thank Him for all he’s done.

Then…

You will experience his peace, and his peace will guard your heart and mind.

The Protection of Peace

It’s not just that we get God’s peace. It’s that his peace provides protection for our mind and our hearts. Why is it that sometimes we can forget about our deepest pressures? The burdens are so heavy, and yet for a few hours we forget about it. Maybe we have company over; maybe we grab coffee with a friend. In those times, we’re not thinking about our worries because something else has taken the focus of our attention.

That’s how God’s peace works. It creates a buffer around my minds and keeps us from feeling the stress and pressure of whatever it is that’s taking away our peace. I think of a security guard, guarding a priceless heirloom at a museum. Their job is to protect that heirloom at all costs. Nobody’s allowed to touch it, mess with it, or go near it. That’s how God’s peace works. It creates a wall of protection around our mind, keeping us from thinking and stressing about it. He calms us when we get worried and scared, and he helps us to focus on something else instead.

So, if you’re struggling today with worry, fear, frustration, anxiety, and you can’t seem to get any victory, use this formula. Choose not to worry. Talk to God about it; then find something to be thankful for.

A Thousand Times

Then let God’s peace wrap around your heart and mind. Don’t fight against it. Don’t force yourself to keep worrying about it. Just release it and trust that God will get you through today as he’s done a thousand times before.

One of my most favorite new songs right now is A Thousand Times by We are Messengers. If you get a chance, listen to it. It will encourage your heart so richly. I just love the words to this song. These are the words to the chorus.

You can count on that, you know what He’s like
You’ve seen Him do it a thousand times
Yeah, even in the dead of night
There’s never been a mornin’ when the sun don’t rise
He’ll never let go, you know that it’s true
He’s still that good and He’s still got you
You can count on that, you know what He’s like
You’ve seen Him do it a thousand times

Aren’t those words such an encouragement? God’s been faithful before; there’s no doubt that he will be faithful again. So find courage in that today and let his peace wrap around your mind and heart.

For More Encouragement

For more encouragement, check out our devotional, He Still Calms Storms or read my post, Peace in the Midst of Life’s Hard.

Snow Day!

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It’s a snowy day here in Pennsylvania, and I’m so glad! This is actually the second snowfall we’ve had this week. But after two years of no snow, I’ll take it. I love these days. I think it’s probably reminiscent of the days of my childhood. Snow days were pretty epic at my house growing up.

Snow Days When I Was Growing Up

First, we would get up early and check the tv to see if school was canceled for the day. That was pretty epic in and of itself. Then we would get all bundled up, and my day would drive us over to our church. You see, at our church, there was this huge hill where our Christian school team would play soccer. To date, it’s still the highest hill I’ve ever seen for sledding. As a kid, it was daunting to walk up that hill. It took a long time to get to the top. But when you finally made it to the top, it was an amazing ride down. People would come from all over the area to sled down that massive hill.

When we were so frozen, we could no longer move, we would head home. My mom would be waiting for us with homemade hot chocolate and fresh chocolate chip cookies. (I had a pretty amazing childhood.)

The Wonder of a Snow Day

I think those memories are why I cherish these days so much, especially since we just don’t get that many of them. There’s just something so magical about waking up to snow coming down outside. I’ve never lost the wonder of a snow day.

Now, as an adult, a snow day is a little different. I don’t get to spend the whole day outside playing in the snow, and I’m quite all right with that. I’d rather stay inside where it’s warm. I get to be the one making the hot chocolate and cookies in the midst of trying to still get my work done for the day.

A good snow day reminds me of fresh starts and renewals and cleansing. I don’t think I can ever look at a fresh snow and not think of the verse in Isaiah.

“Come now, let’s settle this,” says the Lord. “Though your sins are like scarlet, I will make them as white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, I will make them as white as wool.
Isaiah 1:18 NLT

There’s just nothing like a fresh blanket of snow to remind me of God’s goodness and faithfulness.

The next day you experience a snow day, or even look at a picture of snow, let it be a reminder that God’s grace is new today. His forgiveness is a gift that covers us and makes us white as snow.

Just for Fun

What are some of your favorite snow day pasttimes? If you could take off the whole day, what would you do?

Here are a few of mine:

Make cookies
listen to uplifting, fun music
read a good book (this one is my most favorite!) Need good book suggestions? Try these.
watch a family movie
enjoy an extra cup of coffee
make popcorn

What else would you add to the list? What do we have in common?

More Encouragement

For more encouragement, check out my January/February post, 3 Ways to Turn Discouragement into Hope.

When It All Falls Apart

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We’re a few weeks into January, and for some, life has already gotten crazy. It’s amazing how fast things can change. One minute, it’s a new year, new you…the next you’re struggling to keep going and put one foot in front of the other with school schedule, work load, projects, finances, and more.

When Everything Falls Apart

What do you do when it all comes apart? When it feels like everything is crashing and burning around you? How do you find the strength to get up and keep going?

Maybe it’s not even a huge trial. Maybe it’s discouragement or defeat or even shame. You walked into this new year with dreams and goals, and then life hit. And now, it feels so overwhelming. You feel like a failure. You feel less then, not enough. Discouragement has set up camp in your heart, and it doesn’t seem like it’s going anywhere.

As a person who is definitely affected by the season changes and the sun, I can get so easily discouraged in the dark, cold, dreary days of January and February. I know that, and I try my best to prepare for it. But sometimes, it still comes anyway. So what do you do? How do you find perspective? How do you find the ability to take a deep breath?

What’s the Answer?

Stop.

Be still.

Look up.

“Be still, and know that I am God!
I will be honored by every nation.
I will be honored throughout the world.”
Psalm 46:10

It seems too simple. It feels like we have to do more. Try harder. And yet, when it feels like everything is falling apart, the best thing we can do is to be still. Realign ourselves with God. Spend time talking to Him, pouring out your heart before him. And then just sit quietly, in his presence. It’s a lot harder than it seems, but if we can learn to do it, the benefits are incredible.

Peace.

Breathing room for our soul.

An end to anxious thoughts.

Redirection.

New focus.

A Few Songs to Encourage Your Heart

Another way to be still before God is to listen to music that helps us to focus on God. Below are several songs that bring encouragement to my heart, no matter how many times I listen to them.

The advice I give time and time again to people is God hasn’t forgotten you. He sees you. He hears you.

Find a time and a place to just be still this week and reconnect with him and let that be the reset you need to keep moving forward.

More Encouragement

For more encouragement, read 3 Ways to Turn Discouragement into Hope. A great book to encourage your heart to dream again and not to get stuck in discouragement is Called to Dream by Rick Warren.

5 Great Products/Ideas to Start Your New Year Right

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I love that God gifts us the gift of new beginnings. New years and new days, fresh starts, a chance to begin again. The beginning of a new year is just like the beginning of a new day—a fresh start, a chance to begin again.

There are different views on the new year. Some people love making goals and resolutions for the year; some people think they’re a waste of time. I am solely on the writing down my dreams and goals for the year side. I love writing down what I want to accomplish for the year with God’s help, and I love looking at that list at the end of the year to see what I was able to accomplish.

No matter which side you fall on, we can all agree that the new year is a great time to push reset.

Some Great Resources for This New Year

If you want to get your year off to a great start, here are a few ideas to get you started.

Daring to Imagine Bible Study.

I finished the end of last year and the first few days of January with this Bible study from youversion. It really encouraged my heart and my creativity. I feel like it’s a great study to kick off the new year. If you want to be encouraged and inspired by what God could do with your life, check out this study. Just download youversion on your phone, if you haven’t already, and look for the plan Daring to Imagine by Rick Warren. You won’t be disappointed; I promise you that!

A Simplified Life.

I read this book by Emily Ley during the last few weeks of last year and loved it! All of Emily Ley books are great, and this one is no exception. I read several of her books last year, but I think this is a great one for a brand new year. It’s all about simplifying your life. She teaches you how to do that by decluttering your home, schedule, calendar, and making time for what’s most important. It’s both really practical with checklists and ideas, and inspirational—which is why I love the book. I think it’s the perfect January book!

Find your word for the year.

My word for the year is more of a phrase. I chose joyful and grateful spirit from Galatians 4. I want my focus this year to be a joyful and grateful spirit, to be joyfully grateful. So many of the problems we have could be taken care of if we simply chose to be grateful for what we’ve been gifted and chose joy. If you haven’t chosen a word for the year, Dayspring has a great quiz you can take. I’ve done that in years past and loved it!

Faithfully Stepping Journal.

If you don’t already journal every day as a part of your morning, I can’t encourage it enough. I use these journals every single morning for my morning time routine. It helps me stay on track every single day with my prayer life and my Bible reading. You don’t have to use these journals, but at least use something to write down what God is teaching you each and every day. It will stay with you much longer; I promise.

A to-do list.

It doesn’t sound like an amazing new year product, but it has the potential to change your life. Commit every day to writing down a list of what you need to accomplish for the day and sticking with it. I recommend using the spiral notebook system if you don’t already have a plan. Even if you don’t accomplish everything on your list for the day, at least it gets you accomplishing something. Very few days do I accomplish everything on my list, but it gives me a direction time and time again throughout the day.

These are just a few simple ideas to help get us back on track in this new year. What ideas do you have for a brand new year?