The path I’m on in this journey today walked me into Light I have never known.  That probably sounds very strange, but it isn’t.  I’ll try to make it as clear in words as the Light is clear right now.  As I’ve journaled these past few days regarding my anxiety and fear and facing this upcoming weekend, God has helped me see something about Himself and me.

This morning I have been reading in Isaiah chapters 51-56.  In chapter 54 one reads about shame/guilt and condemnation/conviction.  God’s Holy Spirit uses guilt and conviction to show us the steps He wants us to take regarding any sin in our lives.  Satan uses shame and condemnation to tell us to run from the sin because if we bring it to light man will judge and condemn us.  There is a clear distinction God wants us to know in this.  I was pondering, as I was reading this, how all of this fits with the Holy Spirit being in our heart–the amygdala of our brain.  In the amygdala we find fear, flight, fight and more.  As I was meditating on all of this God brought a picture to mind I want to keep forever.  Our amygdala houses the storms of our lives–the things we fear the most and are the ones we are most anxious about.  So, what is in the midst of a storm?  What is in the middle of Irma or Harvey:  the eye of the storm.  In the eye is unexpected calm.  It is in the eye of our amygdala (the house of life’s storms) that our Holy Spirit has taken residence.  I was picturing that I’ve always fled life’s storms, life’s shames and condemnations, and tried to find a place of hiding while I’d flee.  Today God showed me that instead of fleeing into the storm to hide, to stay with Him in the eye of the storm.  There He resides.  There I can find peace in spite of any storm.  I think this must have been where Jesus would go when he would leave the crowds to go into the hills while the disciples and others slept.  He needed to find the “peace of His Father” regarding the storms He was facing. It’s in this place I can hear “the still small voice of God’s Holy Spirit”.

I sense God showing me that this is how I can be strong in Him.  I don’t try and escape the storm.  I let it whirl out of control all around me.  I stay in it but in so doing, I stay with His very Holy Spirit that promises–Peace in the midst of the storm!  To God be all Glory.