Where Your Peace Lies

     Years ago, when sitting down and talking with one of my best friends, her advice to me was "Go where your peace lies".  I remember it like it was yesterday, those words affected me deeply down to my soul because they were full of truth - Gods truth.  I remember the conversation ended with that because there was really nothing more to say, she was absolutely right in her advice.  Since then I have, apparently, used that phrase several times with my oldest daughter when giving her advice.  I never realized she was REALLY listening, until the other day when discussing a situation, she said to me "I remember you always told me to go where my peace lies, so that is what I try to do". Well as you can imagine, this mommas heart was overwhelmed with joy as my own child was reflecting on those truths.  
     The opposite of peace is frustration.  When we allow ourselves to get frustrated, its probably not going to end well. We may say or do things that we will regret, or make decisions we wouldn't have made, if we had not be frustrated, if we had been in peace.  God's word has called us to peace (Colossians 3:15).  If we are walking in frustration then we are not walking in peace, His is a covenant of peace.
    Frustration likes to rear is ugly head in our lives now and then.
I still believe that everything is a choice.  We get to decide if we are going to respond like the world or like the Word.  I personally have been guilty more times that I'd like to admit, over the course of my life, of not choosing well. It certainly takes discipline.  I have found that I can be frustrated at a bunch of little things or I can ask God to help me and instead respond in patience, love and peace.
I make myself often stop when I feel that frustration sneaking in trying to take a hold.  I stop and breathe and evaluate my thoughts.  Are my thoughts ones of fear and frustration?  If they are, then I know that those are not of God.  God makes very clear in His Word (2 Timothy 1:7), that He does not give us the Spirit of Fear, but one of power and of love and of a sound mind.  Frustration is not having a sound mind.
I have often felt that we settle for far less than what God has promised us.  I also feel that we often tolerate things that we have been redeemed from, things that we no longer have to tolerate.  Frustration and its effects on our lives are one of those things.
We have an opportunity every day to be frustrated with circumstances or to go where our peace lies. When little things frustrate you, take a moment and respond according to the Word of God instead of allowing things to prod or push you right out of peace.  Its something, truly, to practice daily, but its definitely worth it.  Always remember to go where your peace lies, which is where God will always lead you.  Blessings