“You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you!”—Isaiah 26:3 (NLT)
I recently finished a book called, The Road Back to You: An Enneagram Journey to Self-Discovery. At first glance, I thought I would either be a Type 1 (the perfectionist) or a Type 2 (the helper). While I may have some of those characteristics, at the core I am a Type 6, which is the loyalist. I feel as if I am a “healthy” Type 6, but because I do struggle with worry/anxiety, if the stress level is just right I can easily slide into some unhealthy thought patterns. You know what those unhealthy thought patterns do to my mind? Make it a tangled mess.
The week before my book launch was when my friend, Ronnie had been moved to hospice. I didn’t get the notification from marketing about setting up a launch page, which meant it was delayed one week. I realized this the evening before going to my knitting group. I was having some major anxiety over it with all kinds of thoughts going through my mind.
While at knitting I was planning on winding up some skeins of yarn on my new yarn swift. The first two, no problem but that 3rd one became a big tangled mess. Part of the reason was because I was talking about my book launch stuff that was not falling in place like I thought it would, so I wasn’t really focused on what I was doing. I let what I was thinking steal my joy so that I couldn’t even wind a ball a yarn! How sad is that? I am not proud of how I let this stress me out….but thankfully, because of God’s grace and mercy, I didn’t stay stuck in that mindset for too long.
After I left knitting, I checked my email and guess what? The books weren’t supposed to be mailed until the following week and it really wasn’t a big deal that my book launch team was delayed a week. As I look back I can see God’s hand in it all. Marketing has no idea why I never got the invite that was sent to me, but I know why. It is because that week that I should have been setting it up was when I was caring and ministering to my friend, Ronnie. God was way more concerned about his salvation than my pre-launch for the book.
God is faithful and His timing is perfect. The launch team was set-up in one day and because of the glitch with me, I knew how to make sure that didn’t happen with the others. Since I wasn’t focused on my book, I was able to spend some special moments with Ronnie. God knew exactly what He was doing by delaying all of that….and guess what? My book was released as planned.
No matter what is going on in your life, trust that God knows the bigger picture. What I viewed as a set-back was a blessing. God knows how my mind works. He knew where I needed to be and what I needed to be doing. He also knows the same about you.
Dear Lord,
Please forgive me when I don’t trust that You are in control and that Your timing is always perfect. Help me to release any anxious thoughts that steal my joy. You are faithful to Your promises. Your Word says I will keep in perfect peace when I trust You and fix my thoughts on You, not my circumstances. Thank You, Jesus! Amen.
October Memory Verse
“Remind me each morning of your constant love, for I put my trust in you. My prayers go up to you; show me the way I should go.”—Psalm 143:8 (GNT)
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