Are You Losing Your Peace?

Do you lose your peace in certain situations?  Does the past or the fear of something that has happened in the past repeating cause you to lose your peace?  Chances are, if you find yourself losing your peace fairly often (particularly if there is a pattern you notice) there could be an old wound in your heart that needs to be healed, meaning it needs to be dealt with, not suppressed or ignored any longer.  It could be an incident that hurt you in the past or a failed relationship that causes this loss of peace; it could be some fear that has developed for some reason. We can literally make our physical bodies sick by allowing our minds to dwell on something negative, fearful, frustrating or emotionally toxic…even if nothing actually comes to fruition in that moment, our minds have the power to make our bodies respond as if it did.  Let me give you a simple example: What about the last time you saw flashing lights in your rearview mirror?  Even if you knew you were innocent and the officer wasn’t after you…did your palms get sweaty?  Did your heart rate increase a little?  This is my point…even if nothing actually happened in real-life, because of what your mind perceived, your body responded.  The fight or flight response is so important for us to understand because of the inordinate amount of stress people are carrying these days, in addition to the lack of emotional support and stability in peoples’ lives.  My point is this, it’s 100% worth the time to notice patterns in your emotions and begin to deal with them in a positive and healthy way.  What would be some examples of positive and healthy ways to deal with those wounds in your heart?  1) Ask the LORD to help you through prayer, we are invited to come to God with our problems and burdens because He cares for us; healing in the human heart can be instantaneous in some cases just by letting go and giving it to God   2) Consider talking to a trusted, neutral mentor, pastor, or counselor to help you work through tough emotions and past hurts, not that we need to dwell on hurts but we need to express them and deal with the emotions, and trusted help is sometimes the best way to proceed  3) Forgive, because unforgiveness only holds 1 person as a captive, and it’s the one who is not forgiving    4) trust that your life is worth healing, you’re worthy of being free of toxic emotions that hold you down or past issues creating more havoc in your life today.  Restoring peace in your heart is possible!!  You keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.  Isaiah 26:3