Serenity, Peace, Wisdom

God, 
Grant me the 
Serenity
To accept the things
I cannot change

Courage
To change the
things I can

And the 
Wisdom 
to know the difference. 

How many times have you ran across the Serenity prayer? 1? 2? 50? 100 times? I know I see it every time I pick up my journal. 
Yet, how many times have you stopped to evaluate and reflect on that prayer? I’m pretty sure never. 
Well, the same goes for me, that is until the night the Lord really opened up my eyes. 

It was about 12:15am when I picked up my journal for the first time in a week. Before I opened the tab I skimmed over the words on the cover, however, something happened as I did. All of a sudden the words started shifting, and I was suddenly reading past those familiar words. 

First it began with the word Serenity. We know that the root word is serene (yes i used my teacher voice when i was typing that) and we know that serene means calm or peaceful. With that knowledge I switched out the word serenity for the word peace in the prayer, and suddenly the prayer took on a whole new meaning. 

Lord,
Grant me the 
Peace
to accept the things
 I cannot change

Courage 
to change the 
things I can

and the 
Wisdom
to know the difference. 

Wow, right? 
Now just looking at the serenity/peace verse is life changing. There are many things in life we can’t change. Our family, our living situation, and sometimes our job. But God has us there for a reason. It’s the things that we can’t change that we often get frustrated. We begin to give up. But what would happen if we asked God for his peace in those unchangeable situations? Isaiah 26:3 states, “ You will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.” Perfect peace? Only if we trust in him. 

Moving on to the second verse: Courage. Joshua 1 verse 1-9 emphasizes the line “Be strong and of good courage” 3 times. THREE, in only 9 verses. I’ve heard when something is said three times in tandem that then it is established forever, meaning that “Be Strong and of good courage” is something that should be engraved on our hearts, especially when “the Lord your God is with you wherever you go” (Josh 1:9) follows it. What is God asking you to be courageous in?

Then lastly, Wisdom. This verse is asking the Lord if we should have serenity/peace or courage in the situation that we are facing. For instance, if we stay in the hard situation we are going to continue to learn and grow so that way we have wisdom for similar situations in the future. In addition, He will give us that peace we need will help us gain control of the frustration we are facing. Of perhaps He is telling you to leave the situation you are in and you need the strength and courage to do so. But first you need to seek the wisdom of not only God, but godly counsel. Proverbs 11;14 reminds us “where there is no counsel, the people fall; but in the multitude of counselors there is safety.” And when we do we gain wisdom for the future (Proverbs 19:20). 


So as the holidays surround us listen for what God may be telling you. This is the best time of year to too reach out for the help we need. After all it is the season of helping others!

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