It’s week 3 of Proverbs 31 Ministries’ Online Bible Study and Lysa Terkeurst’s book What Happens When Women Say Yes to God. I’ve written about What’s Holding Me Back from God?, and I asked God, “SAYWHAT?” Now I’m being honest. I’m not an everyday Yes Girl, but I am wholly committed to becoming one. Here’s a real glimpse of me: Not an Everyday Yes Girl. But Wholly Committed..
Last week I shared with you my #SAYWHAT moment with God. The time when God told me to let my husband go as he was in the hospital dying of heart failure. It’s a story I love to tell and secretly imagine myself standing on the rooftop of Duke University Hospital, right next to the life flight helicopter, screaming , “It’s real! God’s supernatural peace is real! Don’t believe otherwise! I know because I felt it!”
And I did feel it. It was a triumphant God-moment for me. I never fully understood supernatural peace. I mean, for years as a resentful single woman I didn’t feel peace. God didn’t seem to give me peace then. So why now? What was different? And why at a time when death was staring me cold blood in the eyes? My circumstances were obviously a lot more dire than just another lonely Friday night.
All I know is that in the hospital I said yes to God.
I said, “Yes, I believe in your miracles, and I have absolute faith that you can save John’s life.”
I said, “Yes, I know you are sovereign. That all things work together for good. And so I surrender John to you.”
It was saying yes to faith and surrender, and that relinquished Jesus’s supernatural peace. My heart was not hardened. I was at a place where He could work in my life.
However, I must make a confession to you: That place is few and far between most days.
In some twisted way, I’m a Yes Girl when the circumstances are knees hitting the floor and forehead buried in prayer. But catch me at the grocery store when people are banging into my buggy or when I open up Facebook and see another person doing something I want to do, and Yes Girl is long gone.
I’m not an Everyday Yes Girl. And I don’t feel Jesus’s peace everyday either.
After John’s heart transplant I started to wonder if supernatural peace is only available during supernatraul times – like when a miracle is needed. But I know that’s not the case. Jesus is the Prince of Peace. If the Holy Spirit is within me, then I always have access to Jesus’s peace.
So how do I feel it like I did during that time in the hospital?
“Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:4-7
I remain a Yes Girl. Everyday.
Philippians 4 tells us exactly how to feel Jesus’s peace – peace that surpasses all understanding. First, rejoice in the Lord always. Be gentle to everyone. Do not be anxious. Pray about every situation with a thankful heart.
Basically, be a Yes Girl all the time, not just in the big times.
Recently God has been nudging my heart and showing me ways that He wants me to be wholly committed to Him – ways He wants me me to be a Yes Girl everyday.
There are a few people I need to forgive. Forgiving them will be hard. First, it seems impossible. Second, they aren’t nice.
He also wants me to stop watching some television shows I like. I don’t watch a lot of T.V. This is how I rationalize it. But I do like reality T.V. The kind that’s pretty much reality Jerry Springer. It’s so embarrassing even admitting that. But I’m just being honest.
He wants me to learn to fast. Jesus fasted. I know fasting would bring me into a deeper relationship with Him. But I like food.
And speaking of food, He wants me to stop using it for comfort. That’s not how I should be honoring God with a resource He’s blessed me so abundantly with.
So, please don’t be impressed with the Yes Girl from last week. A lot of days I’m not a Yes Girl. A lot of days I don’t experience supernatural peace. But I know it’s there for me. And I want it. Because like Lysa said, “You never know how God will use you until you let Him. God must be Lord of all if He is our Lord at all.”
Oh, how I want God to be my Lord of all! Today friends, let’s be wholly committed and wait expectantly to feel God’s supernatual peace!
Do you feel like you are wholly committed to God? What is He showing you that He wants you to say “Yes” to?
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