Sleepless Nights

If you’re anything like me finding peace isn’t easy. Yup! I’m a troubled soul as my husband likes to call me. My husband can go to bed at night and fall asleep with no difficulty. Drives me crazy! How can he do this?

Me? I fall asleep on the couch. When it’s time for bed I walk down the hall, visit the bathroom one last time, crawl under the covers and … you guessed it. I lay wide awake staring at the ceiling thinking about all the worries of my heart and activities in store for the next few days. Ugh!

Frustrated, I lash out to God telling Him He needs to help me sleep because I don’t need this agitation RIGHT NOW!

For some reason this approach didn’t work.

I decided to get up and read. My bible was handy and I opened it to wherever it may lay. After placing on my glasses and adjusting my visual focus I glanced down at the page to read this, “What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, do; and the God of peace will be with you.” Philippians 4:9

Peace? The God of peace will be with me? Really?

I re-read the passage asking, “God, are You speaking to me in Your living word?”

I re-read it again and again.

Each time I read the passage I slowed down my pace, pausing on key words.

Learned Received Heard Seen in Me Do God of Peace With you

In slowing down and reflecting on key words my heart received His living words and revealed to me…

“Learn what I, Your God, am teaching you. Receive what I, Your God, am giving you. Hear what I, Your God, am saying to you. See what I, Your God, am showing you. When you do this, my beloved bride, You will experience the grace of peace that I am.”

My eyes welled up with tears.

The Lord, our God, speaks to us whenever we attend to His message in scripture. It was then I realized that I was so busy with worrying about my heart and upcoming days that I neglected to be a student of the Master. And I forgot an important lesson we teach children, similar to when before they cross a busy roadway. That is to…

Stop, look and listen.

How often do you stop, look, and listen? Are you attentive to the Master in His teaching through scripture? What is taking place in your life that distracts you from the path of finding peace?

When reading scripture I invite you to breathe deeply, read slowly, ponder intentionally, and be attentive to the movements of your heart. The Master wants to speak to you and give you the peace that He is!

Let us pray…

“Lord, you know the burdens of our heart and the busyness of our day. Teach me, as You witnessed so powerfully, when You went away to pray to Your Father in heaven. Give me the grace to slow down, to ponder Your words, and be attentive to my heart so I can hear Your message. You are the Prince of Peace. Our hearts are restless until they rest in You. Amen.”