Learning to Balance Life Changes: Hospitality Starts in the Heart, Not the State of Your Home -- part 2

I think you will enjoy this post on Learning to Balance Life Changes as you explore some of the scriptures  that point us toward being hospitable.  As a person who struggles with issues of fatigue, I have felt frustrated many times at not being able to entertain.  However,  it sometimes is possible, and, I am hoping this will be something I can do more often, as well as getting out of the house more.

Learning to Balance Life Changes: Hospitality Starts in the Heart, Not the State of Your Home -- part 


Prayer:
Father in Heaven, you know my heart.  I have always been a people person, and I miss being able to do things I used to do.  Since being afflicted with chronic illness, I have lost ground, but I have always held the hope in my heart there would be improvement. You know the issues I deal with in having people over or going out.  I pray for wisdom, insight, and strength to do your will.  In Jesus Name,

Amen.

Perfect Peace

You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You. (Isaiah 26: 3  NKJV)

All Scripture is given by inspiration of God,

 and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof,
 for correction,

 for instruction in righteousness, 

that the man of God may be complete...

(Taken from 1 Timothy 3:16-17  NKJV)

"Prayer"  courtesy of graur razvan ionut

    FreeDigitalPhotos.net

As I read this verse this morning, I felt that perfect peace flood my soul -- not just my soul, but even my body:  it was as if a warm blanket covered all of me.  Perfect peace is something, that I believe, every human soul longs for.  We desire our minds to be clear of anxiety and our souls to be comforted.  It  is difficult to know exactly where this spirit that belongs to each of us resides: some say in the heart, some think in the brain.  But it doesn't matter, not really, because if one is honest with oneself, we know, that we know, our spirit is something beyond cells in a body.  Science 
knows that a stressed, pained spirit affects the body.  This stress can even develop into serious health problems.

Therefore, it seems logical to suppose, that the opposite is true.  If one feels peaceful, it is going to be healing, whether physically or mentally or both.  However, I know from my own experience, it does take some effort on my part:  like clicking on Bible Gateway or opening my Bible and reading it,  being blessed by a dear friend that has sent a card with scripture and reading it, or going to Facebook where a precious friend has posted just the scripture I need to hear today.  I am not saying God will not put His arms around you or speak to you in your heart:  I have felt or heard God speak to my heart when I was not reading the Bible.  I just know, as I grow stronger physically and mentally, I have to step out a little more.  I call these steps baby steps.  I need to reach out to God for my own well-being and out of obedience to Him.  I need to pray and meditate.  This is righteous; this is good; this is healthy.   

Dear Father in Heaven, I did not know this was going to be a devotion on baby steps to peace.  However, I am thankful You have given me people and books that have taught me baby steps to help me to get to where I need to go.  Sometimes, I feel like it is taking too long; and then, You have the scripture I need to hear for today, right there for the taking.  Bless my readers, dear Lord.  May they be strengthened in their walk with You and fill their hearts with the perfect peace only You can give.  I love You, Lord.  In Jesus Holy Name I pray, Amen.

Isaiah 26:2-4

Open ye the gates, that the righteous nation which keepeth the truth may enter in.
Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.
Trust ye in the Lord for ever: for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength:

King James Version (KJV)  

by Public Domain

My Assurance

My abba Father God has been working on my attitude.  I don't need a magic pill or a quick fix.  I need Him. He has used my infirmities to draw me to Him.  That may sound strange to some people.  In fact, I have to admit that I went through such a dry period in my life during my illness, that I wondered about my relationship with God.  Romans 8 gives me the assurance that I have not separated myself from the love of God, nor can anything separate me from His love, for He chose me and I said, "Yes!. 

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things? Who will bring a charge against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies; who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us. Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
Just as it is written,
         “FOR YOUR SAKE WE ARE BEING PUT TO DEATH ALL DAY LONG;
         WE WERE CONSIDERED AS SHEEP TO BE SLAUGHTERED.”
But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
(Romans 8:31-37, NASB)
“Scripture quotations taken from the NASB." 
www.lockman.org