Gaining Peace of Mind
The old hymn says, “I’d rather have Jesus than silver or gold; I’d rather be His than have riches untold; I’d rather have Jesus than houses or lands … I’d rather have Jesus than anything …”
In the same way, I have come to value peace of mind more than anything the world could offer.
The hardships and challenges of life are ever at me, as they are at you, trying to trouble the calm waters and stir up strife. But I have purposed to guard my mind with vigilance and gird my mind with truth.
Isaiah 42:3 tells us God will not break a bruised reed or extinguish a smoldering wick. Indeed, He came to me when I was bruised and the light of my candle flickered with every new wind. In my pain, God revealed Himself through the pages of the Bible my aunt had given to me on my eleventh birthday.
By the time I had taken the truth of its pages seriously, I had set my feet on a path I would regret. I married before the age of nineteen. Four years later, with a two-year-old and pregnant, I was forsaken by my husband when he chose sin over his family. For the next thirteen years, God was my sons’ father and mine. He provided, protected, counseled, and loved.
In the early years, we attended a legalistic church where they sang “Amazing Grace” but never took the words to heart. We left that church and became part of a family of believers at a church that loved God and loved people. They didn’t compromise the Word of God, nor did they usurp the Holy Spirit’s authority and replace it with their own.
With the love of the pastor, the youth leaders, and those who prayed and supported us with encouragement and friendship, my sons came to know the Lord Jesus for themselves. They and their children are living out the faith in their own lives.
When I did remarry, it wasn’t easy. My sons were teenagers then, and they didn’t appreciate a man coming on the scene and taking on dad-like authority. (But that’s another blog.) God got us through the melding. They adjusted. We adjusted. And all is well.
When our sons were little, I often told them they could be anything they wanted to be. One became a doctor—a radiologist with Cleveland Clinic. And the other is a self-employed, successful commercial project manager. With no free-ride from the government, they worked and sacrificed, and God led and provided.
I look back at those thirteen years of single-motherness and remember. The stigmatism of divorce. The sentence of those unable to grasp the depth of God’s grace. The distrust of other women. But I shake off the dust of long ago and consider the goodness of God today.
Your circumstances may be painful and confusing. You may wonder if things will ever get better—if the struggle will ever end. If you are faithful to pursue God through the hard times and know His Word and obey its precepts, He will honor you. He will plead your cause, fight your battle, and meet your need. He promised.
Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee: because he trusts in Thee. Trust ye in the Lord forever: for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength: (Isaiah 26:3-4)