Go To Your Happy Place...

Day after day, I tell people "go to your happy place."   
Working in the health office, many come in and get anxious about having their vitals done.  There IS such a thing as "white coat" syndrome and just the thought of taking someone's blood pressure can raise it quite a bit.   So as they get comfortable in the chair and I wrape the blood pressure cuff on their upper arm, I tell them, "now relax, and go to your happy place."   They often smile or giggle at the thought, but this tends to put them at ease. 

So where is YOUR happy place?   Where do you go to find calm and comfort? 

Maybe your will say it is walking along the beach, breathing in the fresh salt air.  Or maybe it is walking alone in the forest, listening to the sounds of nature and the sound of leaves crushing beneath your footsteps.  But I have a burden in my heart to tell you that God has a special place for you where He desires that you go to time and time again.  It is a place to be alone with Him, sometimes just in quietness, sometimes just in tears, sometimes with words that seem endless. This is the place where we can be renewed and refreshed within. 

But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly. Matthew 6:6

My special place is a chaise chair by the window in my bedroom.  At times I sit in silence and at other times I kneel by it in prayer.   At night I can gaze up at the diamond-like stars as I speak with Him, and in the day I can see His handiwork in the lush growth of the forest. 

Our special place is where we are filled with His calm and strength. 
Often we are there at our weakest point.  
It is there, when we are broken that we can look for the blessing. 

Just as Spring proves to us what God can do with a cold and gray world - we can be assured that we will find new life and renewed strength as we come into His presence.  

Are you walking through a season of uncertainty?   Often God desires to move us to a place where we are desperate for Him; for the only person who can satisfy the human heart, who can calm the emotional waves, who can comfort the anxious mind is the One who created it. 

​There is a quote from Elizabeth Elliott that I hold dear...

​My dear friend, when you feel as if life is stealing your joy and that you comfort and peace are just slipping through your fingers, go to your happy place.  Get alone.  Get in the presence of the One who knows you completely.  Remember His promise: 

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. John 10:10

Go to your place (your closet, your chair, your porch, your car) and boldly proclaim that the JOY of the Lord is your strength. Pray throughout the day, talk with Him and trust that God can and will perfect all that concerns you. He will always fight for you!  

As you talk with Him, or meditate on His Word, remember He rescues you in times of trouble. He will see you through and enable you to "do all things through Christ who strengthens you."

Yes, I go to my happy place often...

Psalm 146:5 – “Happy is he who has the God of Jacob for his help, Whose hope is in the Lord his God,”

Proverbs 16:20 – He who heeds the word wisely will find good, And whoever trusts in the Lord, happy is he.