Jesus Over Everything: 5 Days to Calm Your ChaosSample

Start with What Is True

All my life I’ve struggled to trust; it seems I was born with distrust in my very nature. Pile onto that a handful of issues that came with my pastor-father’s public ministry fall when I was a young woman, and you get a gaggle of problems that sent me to a counselor’s office, trying my hardest to learn how to open my heart to anyone—yes, even to God.

But as the years have gone by, Jesus has won me over. It is a strange thing to say, especially since I gave Him my heart at age six. But sometimes we commit to God and have no real concept of how much we will need to grow into that commitment. Every time as a teenager when I made a bad choice and He never left, I grew to love Him. Every time as a young woman when I asked Him to calm the storm in my life and He gave me peace, I trusted Him more. Even now, as a grown woman with nearly grown children of my own, He is the Father I run to as if I am a little girl. He has kept me, in all the ways, all the days of my life.

To be kept by God is to be held or retained in one’s possession in order to provide support and structure. These are all the things Jesus does for us, whom He loves so deeply, even while we’re living in a fallen world with pain and unwelcome surprises.  He stabilizes us in the midst of losses and rejection. We become a boat that is anchored when we would otherwise be tossed about by the waves. Waves and wind and rain still come. But we are kept by God in the fury.

Someone needs His relief right now. Someone needs His protection. Someone needs to know that while he or she goes to bed and falls asleep troubled by the many burdens of life, God stays awake and keeps watch with love. I am that someone. So are you. 

Releasing the chaos in our lives over to Jesus is the greatest way to calm it. Ask yourself this question: Is Jesus for me? If you aren’t sure, reread Psalm 121:5–8 again. It is the place to begin, as we start with what is true. If Jesus is for you, then everything He asks, allows, does, or doesn’t do is for your good. 

The world is full of trouble. It is undependable and can even be cruel. But we are loved, valued, and kept by God all the days of our lives. Jesus is for us. This is what is true.

Prayer

Father, thank You for being for me. Help me remember what is true, even when my eyes see something that looks to be at odds with Your Word. Only You know all the complications of my life. I desperately need to feel loved and kept by You right now in this moment. Please help me, heal me, and hold me. I want to trust and love You more. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Respond

What difficulties, disappointments, betrayals, or hurts have formed trust issues for you that have caused you to struggle to trust even God?

What reasons has God given you to believe Him?

Write down three “truth” statements (personalized from God’s Word) that circumstances of your life cannot touch (for example: God is with me wherever I go. Joshua 1:9). How would the chaos of your life calm if you let these truths soak in?