The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds through Jesus Christ.
Philippians 4:7
The Creator of all things designed you. Every detail in your body is a magnificent piece of art woven together by the same God that created the heavens and earth; the same God that worked for 6 days to create a world that would ultimately fall to sin. Yet He worked. His beauty is reflected everywhere and you can see His Mighty artistic Hand everywhere. His beauty is also reflected in you, His beautiful creation made in His image.
As a nurse, I find our body fascinating because God’s fingerprints are all over us! Have you heard of laminin?! If not, you MUST go listen to Louie Giglio’s sermon on Laminin…it’s mind blowing!
Our bodies react to anxiety. Anxiety that can be caused by the perfect storm of crisis. You have probably experienced anxiety symptoms before: chest heaviness, jitters, heart palpitations , headaches, angry muscles. This is our nervous system going into the sympathetic response (fight or flight). It’s our body’s reaction to fear. Did you know that people with chronic anxiety typically breath shallowly? The shallow breathing tells our nervous system that we are under threat and signals the hypothalamus to produce adrenaline. For those of us with chronic anxiety (*raises hand*), this means that our muscles become tense and tight. Our body is always in fight mode. That is NOT what God intended for us.
One of the most effective ways to battle this psychically is to deepen your breathing with the beautiful lungs that God gave you. I want you to try it now. Take a really nice inhale and then exhale. Prolong the exhale so that you completely empty your lungs and follow it with a generous inhale. Do that a few times, go ahead. I’ll wait.
The Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life.
Job 33:4
Spiritually speaking, God breathes life into us. No matter the circumstance, no matter the trial, no matter how many crisis come our way, we know that God is with us, continuing to breathe life into us. When the perfect storm of trials hits, He remains right by our side.
This peace of God is not from God. It is of God. It is not a human achievement, It is a gift from above.
Max Lucado
He IS peace when the perfect storm hits. He IS peace when we feel hopeless. He IS peace when we don’t know what to do next. He IS peace when we face the unknown. He IS peace when fears try to consume us.
He IS peace.
How can we find this peace in the perfect storm?
- Stabilize your faith. Relinquish the control.
- Use the C.A.L.M tool.
- Pray specifically.
- Trust in the peace that is OF Jesus. Believe with your whole heart that you aren’t alone. You belong to God. Place yourself in His hands.
- Rewire your brain.
I know all of this sounds easier said than done. Sure, we can think these things or put these things into action, but how is that really going to help?
Let’s go back to the amazing body that God created. Think of the cerebral cortex of the brain as your internal hard drive. Your thoughts actually leave lines called a memory trace in your brain. These memory traces grow stronger with emotions. Whatever thought pattern you choose (positive affirmations vs negativity) becomes your mindset. Once we get stuck in a pattern of thought, these memory traces begin to affect our perception, our moods and our actions. If you tend to lead toward the anxiety (or negativity) way of thinking, you have created memory traces that have got you “stuck” in the anxiety rut. The amazing thing about this is you can actually rewire your brain! God has given us the power to rewire our brains and there is scripture to support it!
Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
Romans 12:2
We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.
2 Corinthians 10:5
We make the choice to have destructive or constructive thoughts. With a willing to change mindset, you absolutely can rewire your brain. It’s not easy and it takes time, but trust that the Father who created you and the Holy Spirit that lives within you has the power to rewire your brain, if you are willing to let him work.
You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.
Isaiah 26:3
For discussion:
- If you are comfortable sharing, what kind of thoughts do you tend to have? Constructive or destructive? What is one action you plan to take to rewire your brain?
For next week:
- Watch session 5 video
- Read chapters 9-11
John Gatesby says
Very uplifting article and thank you for this! It has been proven that prayers and a strong faith helps during the time of crisis by calming the sypathetic nerves when our body is in fight or flight mode, brings peace and help us with correct deicions in thsoe critical times.