Many who know me best, see me as being very confident and happy. \u00a0I certainly do not intend to make people feel as though I think of myself as “better” then them. \u00a0I do, however, have what is, perhaps, more than my “fair share” of confidence. \u00a0I can assure you, though, that it is not confidence in myself. \u00a0At least, not in myself alone. \u00a0Please read on and allow me to tell you a little bit about myself and hopefully, God can use my story to bring a blessing into your life or that of someone you know.<\/p>\n
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I want to start this story out with a little bit of what is happening in my life as I write this story down. \u00a0I will be very sparse on the details, as that is not really important. \u00a0I was reminded again today of just how much I have failed as a man, husband and father. \u00a0I try very hard to be a perfect husband for my wife. \u00a0And in spite of that, there are some areas that she fails to see my “perfect intentions” as “perfectly implemented”. \u00a0In other words, I try to do my best, but often, I fail to be everything she needs. \u00a0I do the same for my kids. \u00a0As much as I would like to be a perfect father for them, I often find that I fall WAY short of having the kind of relationship with them that I would prefer. \u00a0I mean, what father wouldn’t want his son to be willing to bare his soul to him and tell him everything (good or bad) that he is going through? \u00a0And still, my sons find it difficult to do that very thing. \u00a0I strive live a holy and sinless life, but I struggle every day with things that, as I look back on my day, make me realize that I failed in that area as well.<\/p>\n
Today, I am in pain. \u00a0My heart is broken and the blame is squarely on my shoulders. \u00a0Understand that I am referring only to the part where my own failures and shortcomings are concerned. \u00a0In the situation in which I find myself, I am not the only person involved and the others bear some responsibility as well. \u00a0I cannot, however, point fingers. \u00a0I am responsible for my own failures.<\/p>\n
Now, I don’t want this article to be a “pity party”. \u00a0As I said in the beginning, most people who know me at all see me as being very confident and I think they see me as being pretty happy. \u00a0I do, however, want to frame a little bit of where I am today, as I give you a little insight into WHY I am confident and WHY I can be joyful, even in the midst of this struggle. \u00a0Just before Jesus was to be taken off to be executed in the most horrible manner possible, he said the following to his Disciples (John 14:27):<\/p>\n
“I am leaving you with a gift–peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid.”<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n As I am just now sitting down to unwind from the stress of this day, this is what God brought to my mind. \u00a0In many ways, I want to shout out that I am NOT feeling peaceful and I am certainly feeling fear. \u00a0But God speaks peace. \u00a0Not just peace, but peace of mind AND heart. \u00a0God is telling me that I should put my mind at ease, because HE is in control. \u00a0I need to release the stress to Him (that’s the peace of heart part). \u00a0 He wants it and if I am able to give it to Him, then I will rest better AND be more able to concentrate on the other things I have to face tomorrow and the next day and beyond.<\/p>\n Another verse that God is bringing to my mind is one that I quote often in my mind. \u00a0It is found in Philippians 4:6-7 and reads as follows:<\/p>\n Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. \u00a0And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.<\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n You see, I am in pain. \u00a0I am struggling with my own shortcomings. \u00a0I cannot see how to resolve and fix the issues that I am currently facing. \u00a0However, I am able to have a peace in my heart and mind because I am willing to ask God to take the pain and stress away and in it’s place, leave only peace. \u00a0Even as a recipient of this peace, I cannot really understand exactly how He does it. \u00a0I just know I am glad that He does.<\/p>\n Now, I want to be perfectly clear. \u00a0This peace of God does not absolve me of my responsibilities. \u00a0It isn’t a license to do as I wish and God will just make me feel ok about it. \u00a0That isn’t it at all. \u00a0This peace is available to me because I am trying to live daily in the presence of God almighty. \u00a0As much as I am able to do that, He is able to bring about His peace in my life.<\/p>\n I know that many people who may read these words may be struggling as well. \u00a0Maybe it is a loss of some kind. \u00a0Perhaps you have lost a loved one to death. \u00a0Maybe you have seen a relationship dissolve and you are in pain. \u00a0Maybe you are experiencing financial stresses or you have a health issue. \u00a0Maybe you are a young person and you are struggling at school being bullied or made fun of. \u00a0I don’t know exactly what the form your struggle may take, but I KNOW that if you will simply get before God and ask him to take away the struggle and stress, \u00a0He can replace those things with a peace that you will not be able to explain. \u00a0Will the pain\/struggle still be there? \u00a0Yes it will. \u00a0However, those mountains will not seem so high. \u00a0I can tell you from experience.<\/p>\n I spoke to my son earlier today as well. \u00a0He quoted a verse that God had brought to my mind as well. \u00a0It may be familiar to you already. \u00a0It is found in Romans 8:28 and reads:<\/p>\n And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n You see, these circumstances in our lives, whether they are our doing or not, can be used by God to bring about His purpose in our lives. \u00a0That doesn’t mean that we will LIKE the rough times any better. \u00a0It just means that in spite of how gloomy our right now is, as we look backward through time at this moment, we will be able to see that God was able to use that situation to bring about something in our lives that we needed in order to fulfill His purpose for us.<\/p>\n One final verse that I am reminded of for the better part of the evening is found in Matthew 11:29 and reads:<\/p>\n Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n We can only wear one yoke at a time. \u00a0We can wear the struggles\/stress\/pain of our own yoke or we can allow Jesus to put His yoke on us. \u00a0This is what I meant when I mentioned that we MUST be doing our best to live in His presence. \u00a0We must be trying to be obedient to His will for our lives. \u00a0If we can just do that, we will find that the load he asks us to bear is much smaller and easier to bear. \u00a0This is hard to do at times. \u00a0It is hard to “let go” of our struggles. \u00a0And, yet, we must do exactly that.<\/p>\n I really hope that this short article is helpful to someone. \u00a0It was certainly therapeutic for me to think through what I needed to do in order to get back to where I need to be. \u00a0I am imperfect and in spite of that, Jesus loves me with a perfect love. \u00a0I am truly amazed at that fact every time I think about it. \u00a0Why am I able to be happy and confident? \u00a0It certainly isn’t because I am “all that”. \u00a0My Jesus is most certainly “all that”, though. \u00a0I am happy and confident in Him and Him alone.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Many who know me best, see me as being very confident and happy. \u00a0I certainly do not intend to make people feel as though I think of myself as “better” then them. \u00a0I do, however, have what is, perhaps, more than my “fair share” of confidence. \u00a0I can assure you, though, that it is not […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-51","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-personal"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3Mji6-P","jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/musings.butchevans.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/musings.butchevans.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/musings.butchevans.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/musings.butchevans.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/musings.butchevans.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=51"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/musings.butchevans.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":52,"href":"http:\/\/musings.butchevans.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51\/revisions\/52"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/musings.butchevans.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=51"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/musings.butchevans.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=51"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/musings.butchevans.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=51"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}