Wrapped Up in Peace

by Katrina Sellers

A funny thing happened in my house recently. The comfort-ed became the comfort-er. Let me explain. I was sitting outside on the patio early one morning when my seven-year-old daughter came out to share how she had slept the night before. Apparently, her older sister had watched a movie the previous night, that let’s just say, left her a little less at peace when bedtime came around. The youngest said that she was sleeping on the top bunk of their shared bunkbed, when in the middle of the night, she felt her sister climb into bed with her. She went on to say that, her sister then took her blanket from her causing her to freeze all night. I wish I could share with you the attitude of disbelief in which this story was conveyed to me, but as you can imagine, she was trying to process the new role she found herself in—the one providing the comfort instead of being comforted.

This story got me thinking about the patterns that I have established in my own times of fear and anxiety. What is my coping mechanism in these circumstances? Do I sit and lean into my fears letting them grow into insurmountable mountains that keep me from enjoying God’s abundant life or do I go to the one that offers peace, love, comfort, and protection? As a child is comforted after a scary movie with snuggles of love and safety, God desires to comfort His children when we become overwhelmed with fear and anxiety, but we must come to Him with a heart of trust. This complete reliance on Him gives us the peace to be at rest in His plan.

Recently, I have had a shift in my employment that has caused me to consider other possibilities. I am a very analytical thinker, which causes my mind to think about different scenarios almost constantly until the issue is resolved. My mind was continuously trying to work out all the pros and cons, the money, the time requirements of each course of action. I was trying to apply my human reasoning in order to make the best decision possible. I was pleading with God to show me the way He wanted me to go, but I was hearing nothing.

Until, God stopped my overthinking with the sense that I needed to be still. I needed to stop trying to figure it out on my own and turn it over to Him trusting Him to lead me in the way He wanted. Almost immediately, I felt a burden lifted. I had peace because the problem was not my responsibility anymore. I had given it to the One who knows the future better than I. It is when we give up our own wisdom, fears, anxieties, and plans, and curl up in His blanket of love and protection that we experience a stillness in our souls that leaves us blessed and content. When the world is raging out of control, God did not design us to be our own comfort-er, but instead we are blessed to be the comfort-ed. Child of God, grab your faith blanket today, curl up in the lap of your Father, and let Him sooth your anxious heart with His truth and love.

Katrina is the WMM/ME Recording Secretary and lives in Hernando, Florida. Contact Katrina at kk_sellers@hotmail.com.