The truth is God loves you and He is for you. The truth is God promises to protect you, to be your refuge and your safe haven. The truth is none of this is taking God by surprise.

When we allow the world, our struggles, or our emotions to draw our attention off of God, our perfect peace is interrupted.

God invites us to perfect peace despite our circumstances, but this kind of peace is only accessible when we set our minds on Him.

distractions—that’s what the world gives us. And it can be so noisy. While God wants to set our minds on Him, the world draws our attention away. We know we should set our minds on Him in order to find the peace that surpasses all understanding, but we often choose to dwell on the suffering of this world.

God’s greatest focus is not our comfort. He is not working to make our lives easier or happier for us. No, God’s greatest concern is that every knee shall bow to Him, and that He is glorified.

Contentment is simply an acceptance of our situation. It doesn’t mean things have to be the way I want them to be, it doesn’t mean I have to even like my situation, but it does mean I have to be satisfied with my circumstances—at least for now.

Peace I leave with you, my peace I give you. It doesn’t same He came to fix our situation or make things easy for us, it doesn’t say He came to manage things the way we want, it says He came to give us His peace.

The promise of peace is for everyone, not a select few who are blessed or strong. God wants us all to live in freedom, but we have to grab a hold of the peace. He lays it all out for us, but it’s up to us to put it into action.

Gratitude is a powerful human emotion. It can change our perspective of the trials in front of us because it literally changes our brain’s chemistry.

If we want to defeat the paralyzing fears, or we want freedom from the havoc that anxiety has brought into our lives—addiction, health issues, relationship strife—then we need to be in prayer. In everything.