{"id":412,"date":"2011-07-10T10:06:43","date_gmt":"2011-07-10T14:06:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/beyondgorgeous\/?p=412"},"modified":"2011-07-10T10:18:38","modified_gmt":"2011-07-10T14:18:38","slug":"the-path-to-peace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondgorgeous\/2011\/07\/the-path-to-peace.html","title":{"rendered":"The Path to Peace"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>But the meek shall inherit the earth and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace.\u00a0 Psalm. 37:11<\/em><\/p>\n<p>I unclenched my teeth. Again.\u00a0 The stress of the situation had me grinding my molars which gave me a headache.\u00a0 Again. The constant drama and the strain made me miserable and I had a hunch I was making other folks miserable, too.<\/p>\n<p>Just the next day I felt totally at peace.\u00a0 No more headaches. No more angst.\u00a0 How did I get from misery to joy in one short day?\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t because I got my way.\u00a0 It was because I surrendered my way.<\/p>\n<p>How do you get from tension to peace? There is a path from one to the other. It is the path of surrender.<\/p>\n<p>Sometimes you have to stand up for what is right and stay standing no matter who tries to knock you down.\u00a0 Other times it is the godly course to step aside.\u00a0 The trouble is telling the difference. \u00a0God is good to tell us, though, when we are willing to listen.\u00a0 Sometimes you have to ask:<br \/>\n<em>What is the worst thing that will happen if no one listens to me?<\/em><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>If God\u2019s name will be dishonored or if a hardship will happen to His people, then we must stand, no matter what.<\/li>\n<li>If money will be spent unnecessarily &#8212; well, that maybe isn\u2019t so important.\u00a0 Money is never as important as people.\u00a0 Mistakes that cost only money are not the truly expensive ones.\u00a0 Mistakes that alienate people are the ones we can\u2019t afford.\u00a0 Many costly errors have been made in the effort to save a few dollars.<\/li>\n<li>If unnecessary trouble will occur &#8212; that doesn\u2019t matter so much, either. People will make mistakes and trouble will follow.\u00a0 It\u2019s just part of life. \u00a0 If no one will listen to you saying \u201cthis is a mistake,\u201d\u00a0 look at it as an opportunity to show Christian character.\u00a0 Graciously allow them to fail, and then make sure you don\u2019t say, \u201cTold you so!\u201d<\/li>\n<li>If my feelings will be hurt because no one cares what I think &#8212; not important, either.\u00a0 While I can\u2019t do anything about others, I do have power over my own feelings and actions. God will give me grace to conquer my hurt feelings.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The truth\u00a0 of the Scripture verse applies in more than one way.\u00a0 Here is a simple one: If I am not angry and stressed, trying to control my world, then I have rest and peace.\u00a0 I have a world full of good things to enjoy, and time and energy to enjoy them, because I\u2019m not absorbed with getting my own way.<\/p>\n<p>Meekness, surrender, takes strength.\u00a0 It takes strength of character to say, \u201cI don\u2019t have to be the one in charge.\u201d (Every two-year-old knows how to be assertive. It comes naturally.)<\/p>\n<p>It takes strength of faith to say, \u201cYou are the Sovereign God. You are in control. I trust You to make this situation come out right in spite of the wrong way they are going.<\/p>\n<p>And it takes a strength of love to say, \u201cI am going to love and forgive, no matter how others feel and act toward me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Praying Together: <em>Lord, help us to be able to tell the difference between things that require us to stand for You, and things that are just our own ideas.\u00a0 Grant us true strength, the strength to surrender our control.\u00a0 And we ask for true faith, trusting You to take care of the problem in your own way.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>But the meek shall inherit the earth and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace.\u00a0 Psalm. 37:11 I unclenched my teeth. Again.\u00a0 The stress of the situation had me grinding my molars which gave me a headache.\u00a0 Again. The constant drama and the strain made me miserable and I had a hunch I was&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":423,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[58,22,60,39,61,59],"class_list":["post-412","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sunday-special-messages","tag-bible","tag-faith","tag-peace","tag-scripture","tag-surrender","tag-trust"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The Path to Peace - Beyond Gorgeous<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondgorgeous\/2011\/07\/the-path-to-peace.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Path to Peace - Beyond Gorgeous\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"But the meek shall inherit the earth and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace.\u00a0 Psalm. 37:11 I unclenched my teeth. 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