I am sitting in my living room right now, while my grandchildren play on the floor, and my son and daughter work in the kitchen preparing a birthday dinner for my husband.   I am writing, because anxious thoughts are pressing against me, due to the uncertain times we are all living in, and I find myself needing to focus my mind on the LORD.

Perhaps, you are finding yourself fighting anxious thoughts as well, if so, I hope these scriptures will help you focus your mind and calm your thoughts—I am hoping the same thing for myself.

Philippians 4:6   Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything.  Tell God what you need, and thank Him for all He has done.

4:7  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.

4:8 And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing.  Fix you thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable.  Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.

4:9  Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me—everything you heard from me and saw me doing.  Then the God of peace will be with you.

I frequently battle anxious thoughts so I frequently think about these verses.  I love that scripture encourages me to pray about everything!!!!   That means—God wants me to bring everything and anything to Him that I am concerned about–  Nothing is too small or too big.    And what will be the result of my prayer—the result is peace.  Peace.  Peace. 

For those of us dealing with anxiety, and sleepless nights—Peace sounds amazing!!   The Peace that God has to give us, exceeds anything we can understand.   I have experienced that peace from God when there was no reason to experience that peace. 

I experienced it when my son died, (I wrote about this in The Gift of Grace), I experienced this Peace when I was told I had to have surgery on my eye for a detached retina, (I wrote about this in—Yes, Jesus loves you).   These were a few dramatic occasions when I have supernaturally experienced God’s Peace and Presence.  I recount those times again, to remind myself that if God was with me then—– He is with me today.

Scripture goes on to tell us to Fix our thoughts on what is true, and honorable and right and pure and lovely and admirable.  We are to think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.

There is a children’s song, and the words to it go, “Be careful little eyes, what you see, be careful little ears what you hear, for the Father up above is watching you with love, so be careful little eyes what you see.”

Just as we are careful with what our children see and hear—wanting to protect them and preserve their innocence—our Heavenly Father wants to protect our minds and preserve our holiness.   He knows that what we focus on will affect our emotions and our peace. 

Today, was a day of many sweet moments with our children and grandchildren.  It was so easy to think about things that were pure and lovely and right and admirable—all I had to do was look into one of my loved one’s faces and catch their smiles, and my mind and body were flooded with feel good endorphins. 

God knows what He is talking about, when He tells us how to have Peace!!

So, my friend, I pray that you and I will take His advice—and receive His Peace, Presence and Encouragement!!