A WOMAN'S VIEW ~ Lenore Buth

Swap Anxiety for Peace That Lasts

Some of us know anxiety like the back of our hands, the low-level uneasiness that never settles down.

Take a nap, take a walk, take a pill, it's still there. Sometimes we blame it on current events or relationships or family situations. Other times we can't figure out a cause for the nagging sense that something "isn't right." 

Could the root cause of our unrest be a matter of the soul?

Easter, when Jesus set things right between God and us 

But first came Christmas and what the angels announced to the shepherds:

For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.   Luke 2:11

Jesus, true God and true man, was born as a human infant.

When Jesus was about thirty years old he began to teach and preach about God the Father and about the reason he was born.   

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life."   John 3:16

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.   Romans 6:23

Jesus gave his life for you and me, to pay the price for all the ways we fail to live the way God would have us live. That is, to live a perfect life in thought, word, or deed.  

It cost Jesus everything. All it costs us is to let go of our easy skepticism and truly investigate God's written word.

Primary source material abounds. Just read the eyewitness accounts found in the Bible: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. 

The record doesn't stop there

Several respected historians of the time described the same events. One was Josephus, a well-researched and respected Jewish historian, who lived from 37-100 AD. He wrote "Jewish Antiquities" in 93 AD. Here are some excerpts from that book. 

(Jesus) "a wise man ... who performed surprising deeds and was a teacher of such people as accept the truth gladly ... Pilate had condemned him to a cross ... He appeared to them spending a third day restored to life, for the prophets of God had foretold these things and a thousand other marvels about him ... And the tribe of the Christians, so called after him, has still to this day not disappeared."   --Book 18, Ch. 3, part 3.

Josephus, like all historians, recorded facts, names and places. These historical accounts prove it's no myth that a man called Jesus lived and died on the cross, then three days later, he rose again to life.

What then? After that the risen Jesus, fully alive, showed himself to believers (Acts 1:3). He wanted them to know for sure that he was not a spirit or a ghost, but truly a human being. They touched him and Jesus talked with them. He ate ordinary meals with them.

After forty days he ascended to Heaven to sit at the Father's right hand.

The cross was God's way out for you and me

Our loving God knew we human beings cannot live an absolutely holy life because we all fail, all the time, even with our best efforts. We can't even live up to our own good resolutions.

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.  Romans 3:23

If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.  1 John 1:8-9

That's why Jesus, the Son of God, came to earth to willingly die in our place.

God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.  2 Corinthians 5:21

Jesus died so we can live free from guilt and fear of punishment and hell.

He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.     1 Peter 2:24

He did it all for you and me, so we could have eternal life, life that never ends.  

Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."   John 14:6 

What now?

Once again we find the answers in the Bible.

If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.   Romans 6:23

When we confess our sin to God, we hand over all our failures and mistakes and uncertainties. All of it. And we are to leave it there.

Because Jesus died in our place, our loving Father answers, "What sins? My only Son paid your debt in full. My dear child, I love you."

It's as if God looks at us through one of those lenses equipped with a filter and sees only his perfect Son.

We can swap anxiety for peace. For good

Jesus living within us means we are never left alone to fear what comes next. Not even death, because we know that's not the end of our story, either.

This is only the beginning of the good stuff.

So let the anxiety go. Take a deep breath and relax. Let yourself believe in Jesus as your Savior, knowing he will not deny you. Feel the peace of being loved and accepted by God, without any ifs, ands or buts.  

Next time anxiety comes knocking, turn your mind to the chorus of the beautiful old hymn, "Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus."

Turn your eyes upon Jesus, Look full in His wonderful face,

And the things of earth will grow strangely dim, In the light of His glory and grace.

Happy Easter! May you know the lasting the deep-down peace and joy of knowing and trusting Jesus Christ as your forever friend and Savior.  

I'm praying for you, gentle reader,

Lenore 

Simplify Your Life: Be Done with Old Failures

If you're a second-guesser like me, you wonder why we keep replaying what we should have said or done. 

I got new insight the day I once again recited my failures--real and imagined--to my friend "Connie."

She interrupted me with, "Cut that out already!"

Then Connie smiled and told me how she stopped second-guessing herself. "Russ and I have three kids and we've moved around a lot. Early days I wasted too much time fretting about all the ways I coulda/shoulda/woulda been a better person.  

"If I bawled out my tale of woe to Russ, hoping for sympathy, he would hug me and say, 'Aww, just let it go, Hon. It's no big deal.' Most of the time he was right.  

"Still, I couldn't stop myself. Then another friend shared how she managed to stop dredging up times she wondered if she had said or done the wrong thing.   

"She said talking to herself helped. Every morning she spoke Philippians 4:6-7 aloud and asked God to help her live out those verses. Whenever old regrets taunted her, she deliberately turned her thoughts back to those verses. Little by little she gave up blaming herself for being like every other human being who ever lived: Imperfect."  

Finding help

Later I read those Bible verses more slowly and let them play in my mind--and heart. It sounds too simple, but I felt more at peace after that. Here's Philippians 4:6-7 from the NIV:   

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, 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.

Even now, the hardest of all for me is to leave my burden with God, so this verse speaks to me too:

Cast your cares on the LORD and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous be shaken.     Psalm 55:22  NIV

Forget overnight transformation 

By now I've relearned this lesson often and my perspective on life has changed. I spend way less time on useless replays. If I do start second-guessing myself, I turn to Philippians 4:6-7 to recover my calm and peace.  

These same verses from The Message paraphrase broaden our understanding of what the Apostle Paul meant:

Don't fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God's wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It's wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life.

Be patient with yourself 

I long to tell you I am perfectly calm, day after day, but not yet. Still, I have changed.

Any time I catch myself replaying what is behind me I turn it over to my loving Father and say something like, "Sorry, I blew it again. Lord, help me leave the past in the past. Let me be done with all this angst."

Whenever the nagging thoughts resurface, I repeat the Philippians verses already mentioned and of course, Philippians 4:8:

Finally, brothers (and sisters,) whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.    ESV

Think on these things

Whatever else is happening--or not happening--in our lives, we can only find the good if we look for it and fix our thoughts on Jesus instead of ourselves. 

The bottom line, of course, remains the same. When we trust in Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we are forgiven for all our failures, all our sins. Period. 

That's why we can trust promises like Romans 8:28:

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good.

Anytime we catch ourselves worn out from running on our mental  hamster wheel of regret, it's time to call a halt. For most of us, our failures in living are more likely an annoyance than a crisis. In other words, they are not worth all the drama.

Loving the adventure of life,  

Lenore

What would it take to make you happy?

 A lot of people spend a lot of time wondering about the "If Onlys" of life:

    If only I could meet the right person and fall in love, then all my dreams would come true ...

    If only we had better communication then our relationship would be perfect ...

    If only we had a baby then our marriage would be stronger ... 

    If only we earned more money ...

    If only we had a bigger/newer/nicer house in a better neighborhood, then life would be perfect ...

    If only our children were through school and had good jobs and were married to the right people then I could stop worrying about them ...

     If only I had the body I used to have ...  

    If only growing older weren't so scary ...

    If only ... then ...

    If only ...

    If ...

There's a term for that: "Mythical thinking"

That's how some mental health professionals label it. Mythical thinking keeps us dreaming of a place where everyone and everything is--or could be--perfect.  

Here's the problem. When we spend too much time daydreaming about Make Believe Land it's as if we put on blinders that shut out the sweet reality of our lives:

• The beauty all around us, God's intricate creation.  
• The small, kind gestures of people in our lives. (Like the stranger who held open the heavy door when we were balancing shopping bags.)
• The fun of watching our children grow into themselves, little by little over the years. 

You and I weren't born wearing blinders

We pick them and put them on all by ourselves.

It can start with spending too much time reading other people's posts on the Internet, the ones that show their "perfect lives."  

In the blink of an eye, joy flies out the window. 

The thought and energy we invest on what could be/should be better takes us out of the day we're living. We risk becoming what I heard described years ago as, "Living a life fenced in on all four sides by the perpendicular pronoun, 'I.'"

That can blind us to God's daily blessings to us, large and small. We miss out on the joy of them and likely won't even think to say, "Thank you, Lord."

When we fixate on ourselves and our lives we miss a lot. We forget to encourage people around us with smiles and a few good words, such as: "Thanks!" "Good for you!" "I'm so proud of you!"

Some of us are thinking, Yes, but this is me and I don't know how to change. What am I supposed to do about that?

First comes being willing to be willing to change. With choosing to live in the now and to love in the now.  

How do I start?

We always choose the outlook we put on. What God said to the Israelites applies to us, too:

I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live.   Deuteronomy 30:19  

Any time at all we can ask for help from the One who never takes His loving eyes off us:

God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.  Psalm 46:1   

Any time our past failings threaten to overwhelm us, the One who makes all things new is waiting: 

If anyone is in Christ he (or she) is a new creation; the old has passed away; behold, the new has come.   2 Corinthians 5:17   

What does it mean to be "in Christ?"

There's no big list of requirements here. When we trust in Jesus Christ as our Savior and aim to live by that faith, we are "in Christ." 

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.    John 3:16-17  

That's the starting place and the ending place. 

So how can one be happy, whatever comes? 

Choose life! Choose to be alive in the moment and to see all the ways God has been--and is--blessing you. 

Choose to be in Christ and know true inner peace. Nothing and no one else can bring deep-down joy that fills in your empty places. 

This is not me, preaching to you. This is me sharing what countless millions of us over the centuries know to be true.

God bless you, my invisible reader friend,

Lenore

 

 

Find a Lift for Your Day--and Your Heart--Here

If you're like me, you long to hear someone in the media look on the bright side of life.  

You know, spend more time on what is good and right and true, if just for the novelty effect.

Since that seems unlikely, let's help ourselves. It's still good advice to once in awhile stop and take a slow, deep breath, then exhale. Do it again. Feel your shoulders drop and your spirit rise? Good. 

Now take another deep breath and thank God for something or someone in your life that gives you joy. From now on, keep your mind tuned to what is right in your life, rather than what's wrong.

Past generations managed to get through hard times, whether national or personal--without falling apart, even when life was hard. How? Part of the credit goes to entertainers of the time. They kept everyone's morale up. 

Here's one example from 1944, when it seemed World War II would never end

Bing Crosby croons a song that caught on instantly--and still carries a useful message for us today.     

Johnny Mercer wrote "Accentuate the Positive" in 1944, when Americans were bone-weary of World War II. With its upbeat rhythms and happy lyrics, this tune quickly proved to be a morale-booster.

The song's instructions lay down a good track to follow  

• 
  Accentuate the positive
• Eliminate the negative
• Latch on to the affirmative
• Spread joy up to the maximum
• Bring gloom down to the minimum

Perhaps this sounds like too much. Besides, where are we supposed to find the energy? 

I've only found one Source that never lets me down and that's God. He won't let you down, either.

The One who knows us best and even numbers the hairs on our heads is always there, waiting for us to turn to Him and ask for what we need.

How would "accentuate the positive" play out in everyday life?

Here are some starters:

Give up keeping track of what's missing in your husband or wife, or your children or employer. (Or anyone else, for that matter.) Instead, look for what is worthwhile in them and what they do right, then talk about that.

Let go of nagging kids over poor grades or annoying habits. Instead, point out to them their good temperament qualities--like kindness--and evidences of strong character, like follow-through and keeping promises.

Stop replaying how tight finances are and bemoaning all the restrictions and things you can't afford. Instead, remind yourself what you are able to do and thank God for that.  

At first it may seem no one notices, but don't quit. Little by little, your deliberate new outlook will catch on with the people in your life, especially your family. 

Think what a difference that could make inside your own four walls.

Always, we decide what we will emphasize

"Accentuate the positive" means we focus on what's good and right and true in people and in our world. 

For example, if everyone depends on us and it weighs us down, how will we view it? We can call it a burden. Or we can regard it as the privilege it is.

Privilege? Yes, especially for parents. Moms and dads set the tone for their families. Children constantly listen and learn, wanting to know how they are to look at life and people. Happy parents make for happy kids who feel confident about life--and themselves.

Wives and husbands probably won't label it as such, but each one supports their spouse emotionally, remembering it is who they are, not what they do. Every time they smile and hug--the more, the better--each one feels appreciated. Somehow that lessens the weight of worries and problems for each of them.  

Good friends can do that, too, because we are meant to encourage each other.

Even if we live alone, we set the tone for our lives. We can start our mornings by thanking God for another day. Or we can fixate on the constant news broadcasts and talk shows. When we choose the latter, it's easy to get caught up in thinking and talking about the evil in the world and in people.

As usual and as always, it's our choice.

Before that song came the Apostle Paul  

I have no proof, but it may seem logical to think Johnny Mercer took his inspiration from Philippians 4:8:

Finally, brothers--and sisters--whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.

Doesn't that sound a lot like "Accentuate the positive, Eliminate the negative, Latch on to the affirmative"?

Doubts and fears still may surface now and then

I've found it helps to go back to God's promises, for example:

By day the LORD commands his steadfast love, and at night his song is with me, a prayer to the God of my life.  Psalm 42:8  ESV

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth gives way and the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea.  Psalm 46:1-2 ESV

In peace I will both lie down and sleep; for you alone, O LORD, make me dwell in safety.  --Psalm 4:8 ESV

Over the years I've learned I need to be watchful over my moods and to deliberately pick out what's good in life and to thank God for it. 

The ancient wisdom still holds: A thankful heart is good medicine.

Wishing you joy!

Lenore