The Redeemed Rose

  I recently read, “Heart chaos is the result of a worship disorder, not circumstances” . You see, my world is anything but chaos free. A minister’s family with seven children ranging from age eleven all the way down to eighteen months; there is always some kind of busyness and noise. Sometimes just accomplishing dinner for that many people can be chaotic!  But it is more than just noise from the sheer amount of people living together in a small space. Sometimes there is unrest, bickering, clamoring, spitefulness, anger, frustration, irritation, and snapping at the smallest thing. And that’s just in my own heart! Now multiply that by eight more.  I have been praying for us to have a peaceful home for many years now. Given our circumstances, many would say that’s impossible. I would have agreed with them. But then I stumbled upon that quote. It isn’t my outward circumstances that cause me to feel chaotic; it is my own heart. If I want a peaceful home, it starts from the i...

  We’ve probably all read the most popular verses on anxiety: “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.” (Philippians 4:6) “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” (Matthew 6:34) Maybe we’ve even written them on notecards to carry around in our pockets. Or posted them to our bathroom mirrors on sticky notes.  These passages are excellent (after all, they are the inspired Word of God) and helpful to use in our battle against anxiety. But too often I have isolated those texts and made them into a law in my mind.  I knew the Bible said I wasn’t supposed to be anxious, so it became another set of dos and don’ts. If I could check it off my list and say, “Ok, I wasn’t anxious today”, then I had done well. If I broke the rule and had anxious thoughts, I would give myself a mental slap on the ...

1 O LORD, how many are my foes! Many are rising against me;  2 many are saying of my soul, "There is no salvation for him in God." Selah  3 But you, O LORD, are a shield about me, my glory, and the lifter of my head.  4 I cried aloud to the LORD, and he answered me from his holy hill. Selah  5 I lay down and slept; I woke again, for the LORD sustained me.  - Psalm 3:1-5 Last night, I woke up around 3:30 and couldn’t fall asleep again until 5 or 5:30. This doesn’t happen on a regular basis (like every night) but it happens more frequently than I would like. The “foes” that kept me awake were my anxious thoughts. There were “many rising against me”. I know from my experience with essential oils that I am not the only one who deals with this problem, because the issue of sleeplessness or waking up and not being able to fall back asleep because of “mind-racing” is one of the most common concerns people bring to me. My mind ran the gauntlet of all the areas...