This month, YadaFactor is focused on living out the word rest in a world that seems to be spinning off its axis. According to recent studies, 2 in 5 adults (42%) report symptoms of anxiety, which is the opposite of rest!
As a counselor and co-founder of YadaFactor, I see anxiety daily in the call God has given me. With Covid currently increasing, natural disasters, and distressing world events, all that is happening can keep us wondering where God is. If God offers peace or rest, how can we find it in these circumstances? Thankfully, YadaFactor offers a way!
Philippians 4:5-7 says,
The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer, supplication, with thanksgiving make your request be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
Let’s spend a moment together using the Yada model through this passage as we journal! Grab your pen and coffee and take a moment with me as we go through these verses.
I first want to focus that God is in control as the verse begins: “The Lord is at hand.” There are times I feel the world is out of control and I need to be reminded God is not! He IS at hand. Looking up “at hand” in my concordance I find it means to squeeze or throttle, to be near in place and position. That says a lot to me as God is always ready to act and He is near! It’s like He is saying “Let’s go!”
The verse also is telling me to not be anxious about anything, but to give what I am anxious about in prayer and supplication. Supplication means to beg; sweat it out. That visual reminds me of the moment in the Garden of Gethsemane when Jesus was sweating blood, pleading with God to take the cup away that he was about to endure for our sake. Jesus was anxious but was doing what these verses are asking us to do. He stayed there until he could say, “Thy will be done.”
It has taken me a lot of years to get honest with God through begging, pleading, and petitioning in earnest. Currently, I am doing this for my daughter who is struggling, and it is hard to watch someone you love hurting. I have prayed for years for family members and often must wait for God to reveal his plan for them. But I have learned to write promises I get even before they are fulfilled, and love to wait in trust for when I will put the date of the answer.
Ending with thanksgiving also has proven so effective to let the peace of God rest on me and calm my anxiety. I do see Him at work in my life and there is so much to be grateful for. I love nature and get to enjoy it so much each day. I live in Virginia and love to hike, see waterfalls, and ride motorcycles with my husband. We love our adventures to see ALL God has created. I often am amazed at how creative the God of the Universe is. I love to thank Him for allowing me to experience how much He has given us to enjoy.
By the time I write all this, I begin to feel the peace of God, which surpasses my limited understanding of any situation! He alone can guard my mind and heart when the anxiety of each day wants to come back in. I am to follow this model each morning as counseling others needs to come from overflow of the time I spend with God. I have my own anxieties each day and need to come to Jesus to find rest for my soul as that is what I want to offer others. How much can overflow from your cup of rest and time with the Lord today?
God offers us all rest over anxiety, which will you chose today?
Cindy
Cindy Chamberland, a YadaFactor Co-Founder, is our resident thinker and a forever student of God’s word. Cindy has a doctorate in clinical counseling and a private practice as a Licensed Professional Counselor in Lynchburg, Virginia. She has a passion to connect with people and help them find hope and healing. On the weekends Cindy loves to ride motorcycles with her husband of 35 years to see the incredible beauty in God’s natural world. She also enjoys running and hiking in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains. She has two grown children and six grandchildren.
