The Peace of Christ will Guard you
Philippians 4:4 (ESV)
I was working at World Vision, as a Web Analyst. If you don't know what that means, don't worry, I didn't either. However, I felt the crushing weight of debt and inability to move. I was unhappy, under paid, and under-appreciative of the many blessings God has actually bestowed upon my life. I was
What seemed like out of the blue, a friend forwarded me a job opportunity from Expedia. I jumped on it, knowing that if I got hired, I would be doing a lot of Googling and growing a lot. I was practically offered the job during the interview and felt like God was expanding my world. There were some trade-offs that I didn't take into account. For example, while the job paid more, it was in Bellevue and the commute was an hour to an hour-and-a-half, one way. This made for some long weeks that took time away from my family and put pressure on me. The next thing I didn't account for was God shifting me and my wife away from one church to another. While that didn't really take a physical toll, it took an emotional one as I had to figure out a way to leave without hurting anyone. The final thing that I didn't expect was getting let go from Expedia just 4 days shy of my 6 month probationary period ending.
In all of this, we need to be in agreement, but there's another element to consider. Whether or not we feel peace. The verse above (verse 7) talks about how the peace of God guards our hearts and minds. It enables us to make right choices and feel confident in the decisions we make. But it is our job to listen to it and respond accordingly.
Many of you may feel like I do, a crushing pressure to make a decision, but an equally crushing pressure to not make a mistake. That is normal. That is life. For some, this set of pressures has to do with where to eat after church. Others, it could be about whether or not to buy a couch. God, our father, knows what we need and even what we want. He wants to give us good things and give us tools that enable us to live powerful, mission oriented lives that bless and encourage and introduce Christ. But we have to be willing to put our trust in the peace of God and in God himself. He knows us better than we know us.
For those important decisions, we have to begin relying on the peace of God. Where you feel peace, that's the direction to go. Also, if you have a spouse, you need to have
4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. 5 Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; 6 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Setting the Stage
Recently, my wife and I have been looking at housing. Part of it is the ever increasing desire to get out of apartment dwelling and the perpetual noise, confinement, and, more often than not, marijuana smells from our neighbors. The other part of this is we have a looming end of lease coming up very soon. We have a tight window of time between now and what is the constantly-relentless approach of November 2nd, the end of our lease. The last time we looked things were completely different. We didn't have children, we didn't have much money and we had a mountain of debt from Amber's schooling. The last time, I was also working on my Bachelor's of Science in Information Security, a field I was interested in and one that I determined was a real potential for me to get a job post-school.I was working at World Vision, as a Web Analyst. If you don't know what that means, don't worry, I didn't either. However, I felt the crushing weight of debt and inability to move. I was unhappy, under paid, and under-appreciative of the many blessings God has actually bestowed upon my life. I was
stuck
.What seemed like out of the blue, a friend forwarded me a job opportunity from Expedia. I jumped on it, knowing that if I got hired, I would be doing a lot of Googling and growing a lot. I was practically offered the job during the interview and felt like God was expanding my world. There were some trade-offs that I didn't take into account. For example, while the job paid more, it was in Bellevue and the commute was an hour to an hour-and-a-half, one way. This made for some long weeks that took time away from my family and put pressure on me. The next thing I didn't account for was God shifting me and my wife away from one church to another. While that didn't really take a physical toll, it took an emotional one as I had to figure out a way to leave without hurting anyone. The final thing that I didn't expect was getting let go from Expedia just 4 days shy of my 6 month probationary period ending.
The Peace of Christ will guard your heart
Fast forward to now. We didn't miss a day without pay, God gave me another amazing job, and,in the process, changed my perspective. Now that we are looking for houses again, my wife and I have had some struggle. We want to make the best, God-centered, decision possible for ourselves and our family. There have been a number of different options and one by one many have fallen away. One option would require a fair amount of updating over time to make it our own, other options are just beyond what we feel we can handle with a mortgage payment, while still others are pretty much only useful for those who "flip" houses.In all of this, we need to be in agreement, but there's another element to consider. Whether or not we feel peace. The verse above (verse 7) talks about how the peace of God guards our hearts and minds. It enables us to make right choices and feel confident in the decisions we make. But it is our job to listen to it and respond accordingly.
Many of you may feel like I do, a crushing pressure to make a decision, but an equally crushing pressure to not make a mistake. That is normal. That is life. For some, this set of pressures has to do with where to eat after church. Others, it could be about whether or not to buy a couch. God, our father, knows what we need and even what we want. He wants to give us good things and give us tools that enable us to live powerful, mission oriented lives that bless and encourage and introduce Christ. But we have to be willing to put our trust in the peace of God and in God himself. He knows us better than we know us.
For those important decisions, we have to begin relying on the peace of God. Where you feel peace, that's the direction to go. Also, if you have a spouse, you need to have
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