Calm My Anxious Heart

Last semester, the seminary wives group that I am a part of read and discussed Creative Counterpart by Linda Dillow. We also had the privilege of having Linda speak at our spring seminar. After thoroughly enjoying and being challenged by both the book and her lecture, I decided to read another book she wrote that has been sitting on our shelf for over a year now.

Calm My Anxious Heart.

For my own benefit, I wrote down things from this book that challenged and encouraged me in my own journey of learning to be content. I thought I’d share some of the things that God put on my heart as I read about this issue that we all struggle with.

What is contentment and how is it achieved? The book aims to answer these questions. The first chapter mentions a woman who lived a life of contentment. Here is how she is described:

“Her eyes were fixed on eternity. Her tomorrows belonged to God. She had given them to Him. And because all her tomorrows were nestled in God’s strong arms, she was free to live today. One day at a time she could make the right choices and grow to possess the holy habit of contentment.”

What a great life! Free to live today. All of my tomorrows nestled in God’s strong arms. I love that picture. It’s so easy to become wrapped up in my circumstances, letting them dictate my responses and attitudes. However, “true contentment is separate from our circumstances. Contentment is a state of the heart, not a state of affairs.” Just as Paul wrote about in Philippians 4 when he said that he had learned to be content in whatever circumstances he was in. The secret? “I can do all things through Him who gives me strength.”

J.I. Packer leaves little wiggle room for debate: “Contentment is essentially a matter of accepting from God’s hand what He sends because we know that He is good and therefore it is good.”

So what control do I have over my own contentment? Quite a lot!

Question: If you made a list of all the negatives and all the positives in your life, which list do you spend the most time dwelling on?

I know I can so easily see all the negatives and miss out on the blessings in my life! We love to complain, don’t we? We want others to feel our pain, join us in our misery, and adopt our indignation!

It all comes down to perspective.

"Two women looked through prison bars
One saw mud, the other saw stars."

Where’s my perspective?

A few verses before Paul reveals his secret to contentment, he breaks it up into two parts – our part and God’s part.

Our part: “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.”

God’s part: “And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

If I choose to pray to the Lord and be thankful, He will give me His peace! And the very next verse tells me one more thing –

Dwell on the positives!

“Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, if anything is excellent or praiseworthy, think about such things.”

We become what we think!

Our mind is a secret place where no one has to know what goes on except for us and God. Linda said that she feels God speaking to her, “Make secret choices that will honor Me. Though no one sees your choices and knows how difficult they are, make them for Me.”

Lord, help me to make choices that honor You even if no one else knows. Help me to pray to you with a thankful heart when I start to complain or worry. Help me to dwell on the positive things in my life and to accept whatever life brings, knowing that it is from Your hand and therefore, it is good.