Less Anxiety, More Peace!

Psalms 4:8 I will both lay me down in peace and sleep: for thou O Lord only makest me dwell in safety. 

Does anyone else lay your head down to sleep, exhausted, yet instead of falling peacefully to sleep, your mind is going crazy thinking of all the things to do tomorrow or even days into the future.

I can't just tell my brain to shut off, It's not like I need my brain to be anxiously thinking of what needs to be done, because guess what I can't do it til tomorrow! 

I struggle with this every night, sometimes I don't even realize I'm doing it!

This verse may be a lot more about safety but I like that it begins with peace, and that's what I need! 

When you go to bed, start with saying this prayer, don't just repeat it or say it as habit, really pray to God in your own way! If after your prayer and talking with God you still can't stop thinking about tomorrow, count your blessings! Maybe we can fall asleep thinking about all the good things rather than our To Do list. 

Colossians 3:2 set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth! 

Philippians 4:8 Finally brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report, if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, THINK ON THESE THINGS. 

Clothed in Strength & Honor

In Proverbs 31 we learn a lot about the "virtuous woman". All the characteristics she has are things we need to being doing as women of God! I've been wanting to watercolor these dresses for a while now and thought this verse was fitting for it. 

Strength and honor are her clothing, in an earlier verse we learn about her actual clothing but here we look at her inner clothes. She is strong and highly respected by others and completing Gods will for her she can rejoice in the future. 

Let your inner clothes be as beautiful as your real clothing! 

Bow of an Enemy

God loves us so much, he sent his son to die for our sins! But what about before Jesus walked the earth before he was even born? God handled sin a little differently back then. In Lamentations, chapter one Jerusalem is suffering from their sin, they have had a huge downfall, started worshiping false gods and idols and committing adultery, at the end of the chapter is a cry for sympathy, from Jeremiah, he feels Sorrowful for his people who have fallen to a dark lost place. In chapter 2 we read about Gods anger, " The Lord was an enemy he hath swallowed up Israel " 

God was so angry it was as if he were now Jerusalems enemy

He hath bent his bow as an enemy! 

Next was the cry for mercy, and God did have mercy on them as we last read in Lamentations chapter 3 ( my previous blog post ) 

Gods faithfulness is so great there are new mercies every morning! 

Because Jesus died for our sins, we are covered in his blood, have you ever heard/sang the hymn "washed in the blood by Jesus" we'll it's the truth! When we are saved and we still sin God sees we are washed in the blood and has mercy on us, he forgives us, but as we read in 3:19-21 we still remember the things we did to help not bring us back,and to have hope in The Lord! 

Just remember there are NEW MERCY EVERY MORNING. 

If you have trouble studying the bible and taking time to read it, you should definitely try out bible journaling, even if you can't paint or draw, you can use scrapbook stuff and clip art instead. From my experience, I used to have trouble really focusing on what I was reading until I started water coloring illustrations about what I was learning, it has completely changed my study method, and I have really learned so much! JUST TRY IT! 

New Mercies Every Morning

Have you ever done something so awful, that even though you know the people you hurt, including God have forgiven you, you just can't seem to let it go? I'm sure at some point in our lives we've all done something like that.

Lamentations 3:19-23 gives us comfort for those times, or just when you have had a terrible day you can read that and be at peace for the next day.

It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions  fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.

I looked up consumed online and got these words:
》devour
》destroy
》overwhelm
》raging
》powerful

These are things we say we go through all the time, more specifically being overwhelmed by our day. This verse though tells us we are not consumed because of the Lord's love, and that we have tomorrow to look forward to because his mercies are new everyday!