Do you find yourself in chaos, whether its in your mind or in circumstances?
Do you give more than you receive, and feel empty and deflated with nothing left to give?
Today I’m going to show you how to protect your peace and find joy in life again.
The scripture for today is:
Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it (NIV).
This scripture is telling us to Be careful what you let into your heart and your mind.
Here are 3 ways to guard your heart and protect your peace.
Think about conversations you enter into
I recently had an email from an email someone that was not helpful at all. It was not constructive criticism but a personal attack based on their own hurt and pain.
I read the email.. and there was a part of me that wanted to defend myself.
But I knew that if I did, that It might only steal more of my peace.
Instead I deleted her email and didn’t respond to her personal attacks.
Think about what conversations you want to enter into, and what ones you don’t.
Conversations you want to protect yourself from could be:
- Someone talking about someone else
- Bringing up something that is triggering to you
- Something that leaves you with no peace of mind after you leave the conversation.
You can walk away, choose not to enter in, or say you aren’t comfortable talking about that subject. And if you’re held captive for some reason, you can choose not to engage.
Which leads me to my next point.
Protect your Peace by thinking about the People you allow into your life
I met with a counselor one time about a situation and person in my life that was just wreaking havoc. They held a title of someone who should have been supportive, but instead they were being destructive, and I was having to set some firm boundaries.
This counselor mentioned something I had never thought of before.
They said, “The place at your table, to give you advice or to speak into your life has to be earned by people. They don’t just get to have it because of the title they hold. This person has not earned a place at your table. Actually, they’ve shown you just the opposite, that they don’t deserve that place.”
There are only certain people who have earned the right to speak into your life. It has nothing to do with the title they hold.
Who are they?
And if you don’t have any, ask the Lord to put good people in your life who will earn that right.
- Who has shown you theydon’t have a right to be at your table or speak into your life?
- Is there anyone you’ve been allowing into your life that hasn’t earned the right to be there?
- Do you need to set some boundaries to protect your peace?
Protect your Peace by Guarding what you think about.
What we think about has a Lot do with our peace.
Sometimes when we’re tired, we can let the negative thoughts come and it’s harder to fight them off.
And this is something I’m currently working on in my own life too.
Some things I have recently put into practice are:
- Questioning the validity of the thought.
- Is it true?
- Is there evidence for that thought or is it just my emotions or me being tired.
- What does God say about this in His Word?
Now, I am certainly not perfect at this, but I am growing, and these things have been helping me not to give into negative thoughts that come my way.
How to Protect your Peace
Guard you Heart and mind by having boundaries around the conversations you enter into,
Be aware of who you let into your life and who has earned the right to speak into your life, and who hasn’t.
Guard your mind from negative thoughts by questioning whether there is really evidence for that thought and comparing it to what Scripture says about that situation.
How will You Protect your Peace?
Decide on one thing you will do this week to protect your peace and leave it in the comments section below.
This video/podcast was inspired by Day 8 of My Bible Study Healing the Father Wound.
