From a Meltdown to Peace

This past weekend I had one.  A meltdown, that is.

I was tired.  Oh, so tired.

I have a problem.  It's called *trying-to-do-too-much-and-wearing-yourself-down-so-that-the-littlest-thing-tips-you-over-the-edge*.

This time the "little thing" was a dirty shirt that no one bothered to put in the hamper.  Which made me think of all the laundry I needed to do.  Which made me think of all the other things lying around the house that no one has bothered to put away.  Which made me think of how much I missed having a neat and tidy house all of the time.  Which made me think of how utterly sick I am of cleaning the kitchen.  Which made me...well...it made me completely dissolve into exhausted tears.

Thankfully, the kiddos were already in bed and my hubby was completely understanding--and has been even more helpful than usual around the house since, I might add.

I was so happy to tumble into bed that night.  I was in dire need of rest, real rest.  And while I know that can't always be attained by a single night's sleep, it has to start somewhere.  And I needed it to start as soon as possible.

The next day was Sunday and I knew it was going to be another very full day--with most likely no time for a nap.  And it was, all of that and more.

However, there was a theme running throughout the day on Sunday.  It was PEACE.

That morning my husband began a new series: God's Extreme Makeover.  The two main texts for the message were Galatians 5:22-23 and Philippians 4:6-9.

Peace is one of the fruits of the Spirit.  Which means that as Christ-followers we should exhibit His peace in our lives.  I won't share the whole message with you here (although you can listen online, if you like) but I can tell you it was just what I needed to hear.

The key point was letting God *FIX* your problems:

F-ilter out the *noise*
I-nvestigate the truth
X-out the enemies of peace

It wasn't my first time to hear this message and yet I need to hear it often!  How many times I let the *noise* of life become so loud that I can barely hear myself think, let alone hear God's voice speaking to me.  And just like Philippians 4: 8 says:

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--

think about such things.  

If you're anything like me, you may often become bogged down thinking on things that are nothing like the ones described in the verse above.

I must remember to X those things out.  You know the letter X is the Greek letter used to write the name of Christ.  We have to let Christ handle those enemies of peace, we can't tackle them on our own.

When I finally made it to bed on Sunday, exhausted yet again, and I grabbed the two books I'm reading as devotionals, the theme in both (unrelated) books was again, PEACE.  It just completely overwhelmed me and comforted me at the same time that God was giving me such a clear message that day.  Let Him handle my worries, give Him my concerns and cares, quit trying to do it all myself.

Do you need to do that, too?