Sometimes what I live inside my head looks so different than the life I read about on the pages of my Bible. I read about faith that trusts the promises of God, but then when trouble strikes I can barely remember God’s promises, much less believe them. I read about joy and peace, yet my mind shoots into overdrive as I imagine all the catastrophes that might happen in my present situation. How can I be a more joyful and peaceful person, even when life doesn’t look like the “happily ever after” we see in Hallmark movies?
As I sat down recently to do some planning for the coming months, a simple question caught my attention: “What barriers are holding you back from the life you want?”
I realized I could summarize my biggest barriers with one simple word: Fear.
Fear holds me back from walking in faith, trying new things, and having a more joyful and peaceful outlook. I imagine you feel it too sometimes.
While we may not be afraid of things that go bump in the night, fear wears many faces. The anxious thoughts that wake us up at night. The nagging worry that our best friend hasn’t called back because she’s mad. The creeping suspicion that the terrible cold we can’t shake might lead to pneumonia.
How to subdue those fears?
While I worked on my planning for the next months, God nudged my heart. He reminded me He is more interested in how I grow than in what I accomplish. As I prayed about how I’d like to grow as a person, the words “joy and peace” came to mind.
How to cultivate more joyful and peaceful spirit when troubles abound?
After all, even the people on Hallmark movies face problems before they get to the “happily ever after” part, right? I want to learn to walk through challenges with more of the joy and peace that come from walking with God.
It occurred to me that my two words, “joy and peace,” have been there all along in my favorite Bible verse:
Maybe the key is believing.
God fills us with joy and peace as we believe Him. As we believe who God says He is and what He says He will do, hope grows in our hearts.
What if we believed God more this year?
We’d experience less fear and more joy and peace. Our hearts would overflow with more hope.
“Less Fear. More Joy and Peace” is my theme for the upcoming season.
As I think about what I need to do to believe God more fully and embrace the peace and joy He wants to give me, two steps come to mind. Will you join me in taking them?
1. Feed our faith with the Word of God.
“So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” (Romans 10:17, NKJV)
Spiritual amnesia tends to overtake me the minute I encounter a problem; I can totally forget God’s love and care for me. I forget His faithfulness. That’s when I need to feed my faith with a steady stream of truth from Scripture. The Bible reminds me of who God is, all He has already done for me, and what He promises to do.
We need a daily diet of Scripture. We can read it, listen to it, and memorize it. When we find nuggets of truth that spark faith in our hearts, we can write them out and even pray them back to God.
2. Stop giving fear so much real estate in our minds.
“…take every thought captive to obey Christ.” (2 Corinthians 10:5b, ESV)
It’s almost impossible to give fear just a little space in our minds. When we focus on our worries, they tend to grow. Have you noticed it too? The more I bemoan a difficult situation, the worse it seems. When I let worry take control of my thoughts, my faith shrinks.
Instead of giving our thoughts free rein to worry and spin out of control, we can take steps to hold them captive to the Word of God. When a hard situation threatens us, it takes discipline and practice to stop the flood of fear and worry, but we can try these:
- Flip our worry into a prayer.
- Turn our minds toward Scripture and God’s awesome character.
- Begin to worship God for His faithfulness and power.
Friend, we won’t get this right every time, but we can make slow progress.
My new motto is “Less Fear. More Joy and Peace.”
Am I expecting every minute of my life to be more joyful and peaceful? That probably won’t happen. Instead, I am hoping to make small steps of progress in growing to become a more joyful, peaceful person as I learn to trust God and lean on Him more fully.
Here is my prayer: “God of hope, fill me with your joy and peace as I trust you!”
Now it’s your turn: What step could you take towards growing into a more joyful, peaceful person?
Are you facing the challenges of life on an empty tank? Need help renewing your relationship with God?
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Thank you for this wonderful post, Betsy. I feel like you wrote it just for me! I find myself struggling with worry, anxiety, and fear much more than I need to also. The question you ask yourself is a good one. I will have to think about that too. Feeding my faith with the word of God is the way to banish fear. I needed this gentle push to get moving and make some changes!
May the Lord give you grace as you seek to make those changes, Laurie. Just yesterday, I was bemoaning something, and then I remembered, “Hey, wait a minute. This is the year for more joy and peace, remember?” I immediately started praying and inviting the presence of God into my heart. It made such a difference.
Great theme for the year, Betsy! It’s so easy to be fearful and it takes trust, surrender and faith to be peaceful and joyful. I pray you find more of the latter this year! Happy 2020 my friend!
Happy 2020 to you as well, Jill! I appreciate you, my friend!
This resonates so deeply with me. With all that is going on in the world today, added to family issues, I have found myself fearful and anxious more than ever before. Joy and peace were my words over the holidays but maybe I will continue to focus on them in this new year. I will continue to try to build a habit of being in Gods word. Thank you for these words. May you find joy and peace this year.
I think I understand feeling fearful and anxious, Dawn. It is a challenge for many of us. May you find your joy and peace in God as well this year. May His presence calm your fears.
Thank you!!! These words are for me…I’m struggling with an emotional abuser in my marriage but each day that is a good day, I give him thanks. I don’t know what direction this will go but God does! I keep praying and he is listening. Thank you for your 2020 theme… joy and Peace.. if I may, I will borrow myself!!
Thank you!
Praying God’s peace and grace over you now, Diane. May the Lord bring healing to your marriage, my friend.
Very encouraging post – and instructive. Thanks. I read last week…and re-reading again this morning. I tend to focus more on quieting my heart and seeking peace – but want to give as much effort to joy in the weeks and months ahead! Joy whatever the day may hold! Happy Monday!!
Happy Monday to you too, my friend. I appreciate your perspective. Love that phrase, “quieting my heart and seeking peace.”
Thanks for putting fear right on the table, Betsy. When we shine a light on her, we see her for who she is and she loses her power over us.
I needed the reminder this morning … thanks!
Thanks so much for your encouragement, Linda. I appreciate you.
I so appreciate your voice of encouragement, Betsy. My tendency to overthink everything gets in the way of my joy. What a gift to know that our sovereign Lord has already pre-planned and filtered my days through his love.
I know what you mean about overthinking, Michele! I do that as well. (Then I revisit decisions/plans I already made and overthink those too! It works backwards and forwards! That’s why I need the Holy Spirit’s help.
Betsy, I love the use of the word “cultivate” as it reminds me there are actions I must take if I want joy and peace to grow in my life. As I stay in His Word each day, letting it saturate my heart and mind, He will then bring about a harvest of His joy and peace. I appreciate your encouraging words!
Amen! I pray you’ll see a rich harvest this year, my friend. (I like the word “cultivate” too.)
This is a great theme for the year! And fear is something I struggle with way too much too. I need to be constantly reminded of how to fight it.
I love your point about even the Hallmark characters have to get through some conflicts before they get the happy ending! It’s easy to forget this. Easy to motivated by fear which the world screams at us so loudly. But really God wants us to live in trust in him. When I feel fear and worry, I remind myself that God is love, not fear. Sure I fear sometimes, but I know not to listen to that voice and think it is God motivating me or talking to me.