Do Not Let

“Do not let”. These words just roll off my tongue as I read them:

“Peace I leave with you; My [own] peace I now give and bequeath to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. [Stop allowing yourselves to be agitated and disturbed; and do not permit yourselves to be fearful and intimidated and cowardly and unsettled.]” John 14:27    (emphasis mine)

But, then I stop and realize that I have a choice, the Bible is telling me that I choose whether I am troubled, upset, agitated, disturbed, afraid, intimidated, fearful or unsettled. These are all my choice. The Bible also tells me that Jesus has given me peace, His own peace, whether I receive that and let it in is also my choice. It is available to me at all times, in all circumstances. Yet, how often do I choose not to live in that peace, not to walk in that peace? Rather, I choose to be unsettled, angry, upset, offended or agitated.

I’ve been pondering my choices lately, and God has been taking many opportunities to give me choices. God is gracious and He has also been providing opportunities for me to notice and to choose differently. For instance: just this morning as I’m driving on the freeway, guess what? A car cuts really close in front of me, as usual, my first response was not friendly. But almost immediately, I noticed what I was thinking and I turned it around and instead of choosing to be agitated, upset and disturbed, I prayed for that person. I prayed they would be safe on the rest of their journey and they would arrive at their destination on time. I prayed they would be blessed and could find joy and comfort in their day. Another opportunity today: during my aerobics class I found that I was being critical of another person in class and again, I turned it into a prayer. I thanked God that she was there, working on and caring about her health, that He would help make this a good time for her so it wouldn’t seem like work and would be easier to stick with it, I prayed for a positive result from the exercise that she was doing.

I’m discovering I am a very judgmental and critical person. But the upside to all of this is that I am starting slowly but surely to live life awake, to stay connected to God throughout the day and to make the right choices in my thoughts.

“Do not let yourself be overcome by evil, but overcome (master) evil with good.” Romans 12:21

Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. Romans 12:2 (NIV)

I found out yesterday I may (or may not) have some bad medical news, but I don’t know yet, as I haven’t even taken the first test to verify or deny the suspicion. I am choosing to: “not let my heart be troubled or afraid” and to just give it to Jesus, and have either no thoughts or positive thoughts. This is new for me; I usually try to figure out everything and make plans on each possible outcome, try to control and worry about everything way before its time. So, I’m working on this choice thing, and you know….it’s working!