The Peace of The Early Riser

 A peaceful soul requires a life of structure. I have found that early mornings provide a sense of solitude, stability, and the peace that humans crave every single day. Life has consisted of many "new normals" lately, as the pandemic has us all out of our comfort zones. Although you could apply the words I write today as a "how to" in living through a global crisis, my intention today is to touch on the importance of structure and stability through Jesus as a human in a general sense. 

The past three years saw me venture through another season of growth and maturity. It amazes me that throughout all of my imperfections and victim mentality tendencies, He still has remained by my side. The deepest imperfection that I deal with is my "do it all myself" attitude. Depression and anxiety have been two of my largest battles on this Earth. I have tried medication after medication making desperate attempts to get it under control to no avail. The victim mentality has driven most of my experience, and that is a story for another blog post in another week. 

The truth is I have been through a lot of damaging things throughout my life journey, as has everyone else. Everyone has a story with chapters that are less than rosy. I most certainly struggle with insomnia laced anxiety and I have found solace in alternative methods other than pharmaceutical medication. I no longer feel fogged out throughout the day and for the past week, I have been able to enjoy being one of those "early bird" people. It has done wonders for my soul. I wanted to share why its important to invite structure into your day and also how you can find peace through being an early riser with Jesus. 

What can He provide you with as an early riser? 

A Love of Solitude-  I found that medication isn't always the solution to a problem that you face. I love my solitude now. Being able to start my day early, rather than at 10:30 or 11 in the morning has really made a positive impact on my relationship with Jesus. It is really difficult to look forward to your day when you've slept through the whole entire morning. Jesus became a back burner priority and my prayer life went south. Am I a perfect prayer? No. I have made the effort recently and I have noticed differences in how I feel. You can't have the solitude He wants to give you if you don't make Him a top priority. I have found that it's easier to attain that if you start your day off on the right foot. Do what is in your power to handle what you can handle and let God have control over the rest. Use those early mornings to spend time with Him alone & see how much better you feel. To allow anything to come between you & Jesus is allowing the devil to have a seat at your life table. There's power found in God given solitude.

"Neither give place to the devil. Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth." ( Ephesians 4:27-28 King James Version) 

A Sense of Stability- The biggest pitfall of human nature is that we so often try to control everything in our lives by ourselves. Humans have emotions. Humans have insecurities. Humans have traumas. It's how life goes. Our stability cannot be found in the presence of others. I have written a lot about this in the past as well, because it is a huge flaw of mine. So often God gets to be in our lives, but not on our lives. He barely gets a hello or a thank you. We get in over our heads with life and we run to the places we shouldn't run to. We search the world for emotional stability when it can be only be discovered through Him. Life can get overwhelming. Especially when days aren't great, or your heart or psyche becomes troubled. I have had a lot of troubled days. I have held anger, resentment, and anguish so deep within my heart at times. Life hasn't been what I thought it would be. I become angry at the many people who wronged me throughout my childhood. Those memories never leave. Sometimes they are relived in the worst of nightmares. This is the part that you have to give to Jesus and allow Him to give you a sense of stability. It's hard & it's something I have begun to pray on as often as I can, but it's worth it. There's power in God given stability. 

"For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind".(2 Timothy 1:7 King James Version) 

A Sense of Peace: Peace is essential throughout daily life. As I said, I will touch on this subject more later on, but so often we cling to victim hood because it's all we know. It's often developed as a survival method in early childhood.  It becomes your reflection. There is not peace  that comes from wallowing in the past. My medication made it easy for me to do that, because I never wanted to get out of bed. I never felt like I could just function as a normal human again. I didn't want to pray. I didn't want a solution. I clung to being broken. As I look back on some of my life, I can see where I have carried a sense of identity through having a toxic past of bullying, verbal and sexual abuse, and neglect from my father. There's power in God given peace. 

"And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus" (Phillipians 4:7 King James Version) 

All of these traumas are valid. None of that should never happen to a human being. You are not accountable for what happens to you; however, you are responsible for how you choose to deal with the aftermath. For me, I have begun to enjoy my early mornings in talks with Jesus. Some things that you don't feel like praying about are things that you need to hand over to Him. Acknowledge your mistakes with Him. Pray about your past with Him. Know that you very well may struggle day to day with memories, but you need to handle it in a constructive way. I have had to learn a lot in life through the hard way. I am thankful for my early mornings. I am thankful for peace. I am thankful that He still listens to me every single day. 

He'll listen to you too! 

Allow Him to bestow upon you the peace of the early riser. 

"Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all to stand. (Phillipians 6:10-13 King James Version)