Peace Isn’t Having The Perfect Life, It’s Trusting In Our Perfect God
Best-selling author of Beauty in the Stillness, Karin Hadadan, reminds us here that peace doesn’t come from a perfect life, it comes from trusting in our perfect God.
We are often taught that peace is a result of everything in our lives going perfectly—where love is abundant, money is overflowing, success is given, our health is flourishing, and joy is ever-present. But in God’s economy, ‘perfect peace’ doesn’t have anything to do with what’s happening outside of us, but rather, what’s going on inside. It is the connection between a steadfast mental focus and a regulated emotional state—where what we focus on and what we feel are rooted in a place of gratitude, trust, and contentment.
You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you.
Isaiah 26:3
To develop a steadfast mind, we must not anchor ourselves to anything outside of us—this means that our self-worth, happiness, and joy aren’t dependent on whether things go right or wrong, when circumstances work in our favor or not, when things are given to us or taken away. We remain stable through it all because if our mind is truly fixed and steadfast on God, then we understand that everything comes from His hand… therefore, the troubles, challenges, and suffering are viewed as equal teachers to the gifts, successes, and triumphs.
In our human tendency, what disrupts the peace in our hearts is when things don’t happen as we thought they would or how we planned. That’s when anxiety, worry, and stress flood our minds. But the moment we turn to God—the moment we fully trust in His plan, timing, and will—He keeps us in perfect peace. Trust is the foundation for a mind stayed on God, which produces that intensified peace even in the midst of external chaos. The quickest way to enter that state of divine trust is to fix our minds on God through each present moment; speaking His name, meditating on His word, and bowing in prayer even in moments we do not understand.
