Return Unto Thy Rest, Oh My Soul
**You can listen to this post on my podcast here.
One morning, unexpectedly, my world was thrown into chaos.
A situation that I thought was under control and smoothly moving forward
completely became a disaster in literally a few moments.
I sat in my chair and began to cry.
I had no solution.
There was no solution.
I had no way of moving forward and no way of fixing the problem.
My situation was impossible.
I realized the hopelessness.
I knew God agreed.
We both knew that in earthly hands,
my situation could not be remedied.
As I poured my heart out to Him, I knew He understood.
Once my despairing heart was emptied of its burden before Him,
I just sat there, at a loss of what to do next.
Within seconds His peace began to embrace me.
His voice whispered like a gentle breeze through my heart.
“It’s alright my child. You can trust me. Just rest in my peace.
I am enough. You don’t need anything else.”
The following is what I wrote in those moments of God comforting me.
When a trial leaves you weak, vulnerable, heartbroken,
confused, grieved, without hope,
pour your soul out before the Lord.
As you listen carefully and be still,
God begins gently speaking to you.
He reminds you of His ability to handle everything.
He reminds you that He hears you and sees you.
He reminds you that He sees through all the chaos,
He reminds you that He sees everything working out
beautifully according to His promise of good.
Then,
although no circumstance
has changed,
the peace of God envelopes you, and
your faith in your God re-surfaces.
He again proves that perfect peace comes by trusting Him.
Your breath returns.
Your hope returns.
Your spirit is calm and
God is back on the throne of your heart
where He belongs.
God brought me from complete panic and loss to complete peace.
A change in my circumstances is not what brought peace, as my circumstances were unchanged.
What changed was my focus, my decision to trust God’s promises.
God has the wisdom and power to make our life new,
even if our circumstances remain the same.
He can transform the heart to have joy,
even in the midst of sorrow.
God allowed me to go through this beautiful proving of His peace that only comes from trusting.
I got to enjoy the contentment of letting it all be in His hands.
God did not let the blessing end there, as He delights in exceeding our expectations and doing the impossible.
As I sat in my chair truly content to forfeit the thwarted plans, God provided the answer.
In a miracle that could only have been done by Him, He gave the solution to the impossible situation.
With now even better plans than I had before and the chaos over, moving forward was in full swing.
All of this took place in about 15 minutes.
It is fascinating how God works. His ways are not our ways!
Are you going through a trial
and having a difficult time trusting why
it has been allowed in your life?
The top reason it is allowed is to bring Him glory.
This particular trial lasted 15 minutes, but there are other extremely painful trials that God has allowed in my life that have lasted almost 20 years, and only now is God revealing to me the reasons and how the trials are being used to bring Him glory.
Ponder this verse for a moment;
1) And therefore will the Lord wait,
2) that he may be gracious unto you,
3) and therefore will he be exalted,
4) that he may have mercy upon you:
5) for the Lord is a God of judgement:
6) blessed are all they that wait for him.
Isaiah 30:18
Line 1 and line 3 say the Lord intentionally waits to resolve issues because waiting exalts Him.
How?
By giving Him the opportunity to be gracious unto you, line 2,
and have mercy on you, line 4.
Why does this bring Him glory? Because we deserve to be consumed, line 5. (See also Lamentations 3:22)
You are blessed when you wait, line 6, because waiting exalts Him and because you get to experience His grace and mercy.
What is our purpose of existence?
To exalt Him!
The depth of faith, contentment and joy that come from trusting through a trial
is priceless and worth the cost of going through.
Pour your burden out to God, then let Him envelope you with His peace.
Be content for Him to sustain you and for Him to be enough for you,
no matter how long the wait.
He is worthy of our trust.
There will never be chaos in our hearts with Him in charge.
Everything is under His control.
If you trust Him, the storm may be raging around you,
but your journey will be one of peace and contentment,
full of rich blessings and fellowship.
Trust, lean, rest, surrender….in Him.
