Crisis Mode.

This week has been... interesting. Or I can say it's been hectic, overwhelming, upsetting, stressful, basically anything but calm. The best way to think of it (and this really isn't the best way to say it) is I feel like I am going through a mini-identity crisis......

I know, weird.

God has definelty put a shift in my spirit. I know that he's leading me somewhere new, but I don't know where. And I am the kind of girl that when any type of problem or situtation is placed in front of me, I need to find a solution immedicately. I like to know what's going on around me and always having a plan. Not knowing where God is leading right now can be very stressful moments to me, but to him they're moments of teaching. Why it feels like a "mini-identity crisis" is because with this new direction I'm questioning my calling, my future, and my dreams. "Is what I thought God called me to really something else? Is this area of ministry really where I am being lead? What about my dreams and goals? Am I to think of new ones? Where are you taking me, God?!" That's been my week. Constantly questioning those things.

In Philippians 4, verses 6 & 7 are verses I have always loved and read over numerous amounts of time. However, this time it's different. They spoke right into my craziness: "Do not worry about anything, but pray and ask God for everything you need, always giving thanks. And God's peace, which is so great we cannot understand it, will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus."

My Conclusion: Yes, I am being led somewhere new and different. It's reality and it's happening. How to deal: God's indescribable, incomprehendable peace. His peace is so great it's almost hard to understand just how peaceful it truly is, but that peace comes and it stays. Peace from God himself is what has been getting me through this week. I prayed constantly for his peace and he brought it. And it wasn't a peace that I knew where he was leading me, but a peace that everything is really going to be okay. I know that God is for me and is with me. To not be at rest knowing he will lead me would be not trusting God. In Jeremiah he even spoke that he has plans to set me up for a good future; plans to make me prosperous and to have hope. Why Philippians 4 spoke to me so much is because I know surrendering to God and praying to him releases these worries and stresses of life. Once the prayers are lifted up to him, they're in his hands. He is in control and we are not to live day-to-day with the world's stresses on our shoulders.

I feel like this post has been difficult to write, but then again so has this process. It's definitely a journey and reading this post you might be able to relate and you might not. If you can, I'm sure you could agree God leading your somewhere new is very exciting and it could be difficult. You're pushed outside your comfort zone and my learn to rely on faith. Sometimes not knowing where you're going can bring about an adventurous feeling, yet apprehensive. But God can be trusted, and when that happens, I truly believe the apprehensive feelings go away. It's just that initial step towards completely relying on him. As read in Philippians, he will give you that peace and then can you truly rest in Christ knowing he has the ultimate control. Why would God ever set you, his beloved child, up to fail?

With love & care,
❤ Ariel Christine