FamilyLife Today®

Speaker 1

Panic is as dangerous as any other pathogen, and we live in a crisis of panic. Right now. There's been a 51% increase in inpatient hospitalizations among youth age 12 through 18, and the majority of those are females.

And we know there's an anxiety crisis in our country. We know that this is also, I think, the most important question the church can answer. We have the answer for anxiety. It's shalom. It's Jesus. We need to help people get there.

Speaker 2

Welcome to Family Life Today, where we want to help you pursue the relationships that matter most. I'm Ann Wilson.

Speaker 3

And I'm Dave Wilson. And you can find us@familylife today.com. this is Family Life Today. So I developed sort of a bad habit during the pandemic.

Speaker 2

You wore sweatpants every day.

Speaker 3

Yeah, that was. That was part of.

Speaker 2

That's what I did.

Speaker 3

Every meeting was on Zoom. No, it was. I literally started waking up, grabbing my phone, and instead of opening to the word of God, which had been a practice of mine for decades, I found myself going to the news.

Speaker 2

I did the same thing.

Speaker 3

Like, first thing.

Speaker 2

Yeah.

Speaker 3

Because, like, New York Times, like, what's the latest numbers? What's happening around the world? What's the pandemic doing in Michigan? I would be anxious. I'd be scared. I'd be like, oh, my goodness, it's worse than it. How can it get worse? It kept getting worse and worse, and it hit me two, three weeks in.

Like, what are you doing? You are filling your mind with negativity, and you're starting today nervous and scared. And I thought, I need to start with the word of God.

And I'm not saying never look at the news, not know what's going on in the world, but I literally had to, like, discipline myself. Don't reach for that phone. You know, you can find out later.

Speaker 2

We had to turn off notifications because they'd pop up, and you're like, what? And then you get sucked into the world of fear is what I would say.

Speaker 3

Yeah. And I think fear and anxiety is rampant. It's always been a struggle, but right now, even sort of post pandemic, it's still with us, and we need to talk about it. So we've got Jeremiah Johnston back in the studio with us.

Speaker 1

Welcome to be here. Thank you. Love you guys. It's awesome to be here.

Speaker 3

I mean, we spent a day already talking a little bit about. I love the title of your book, *Unleashing Peace*, by the way. Did you come up with that title? Because it's descriptive. It's like I don't want to just have peace; I want to unleash it.

Experiencing God's shalom in your pursuit of happiness, you mentioned yesterday you went through a valley.

Speaker 1

Yes.

Speaker 3

I want to hear more about that valley because I'm guessing there was a little bit of anxiety in that valley.

Speaker 1

Absolutely.

Speaker 3

And how did you find God's peace in the middle of that?

Speaker 1

Yeah, you know, anxiety comes when we have large transitions in our life. Major transitions. Move, a transfer, a ministry change, health challenge, babies, triplets. Triplets, yeah.

And you know, I have been just blowing and going, running and gunning my whole life, just loving the Lord and following him. Then I hit a wall at the pandemic where I ended up having a major unplanned abdominal surgery, where I had to have a piece of my colon cut out after 400 workouts. I mean, no one could explain to me why this was happening. I was angry.

In the midst of this, we have major events, like kind of like crew. We plan our events months, sometimes years out. And to have those just cancel one after the other, I mean, that's what I'm called to do: to help people replicate Christian thinking.

Speaker 3

I mean, some of that got to be financial.

Speaker 1

Oh yes.

Speaker 3

Because that's how you live.

Speaker 1

Absolutely. And praise God, we're a debt-free ministry, but we have to cash flow the ministry and we have to actually do ministry.

It was so challenging in all those reasons, but it began to affect me mentally where I just was living in anxiety and not living in the peace of God.

I always joke with people now, you know, the worst thing you can do if you want the peace of God is to write a book on.

Took me a minute to really allow these truths to permeate my life at the most practical levels.

Speaker 2

And also you're married and you have.

Speaker 1

Five kids who are watching me every day, listening to me every day, emulating my moods. And they see all the nonverbal signals that we give. And it was challenging. I realized I didn't have a care team. I realized that I needed to talk to professionals. I realized that I needed to help people manage. And also, I'm sorry, they don't give you a manual. You can have two seminary degrees and a PhD, but they don't tell you how to handle when God's just opening all kinds of opportunities, how to regulate that and be a dad and be a husband and to do it with success.

I'm not going to leave my family behind in my ministry. I'm going to say no to anything that gets in the way of that. And so I was just stuck. I mean, have you ever been there? I was stuck. I saw a Christian psychologist who was life-changing for me, and he helped me really start thinking about how I was thinking and how I was processing things. That's where so much of the truth of this book comes from. I know it works because it works in my own life, the word of God.

But we need to have a care team. We need to establish peace for ourselves. Like you said, such a practical thing—not beginning the day in fear and panic. It turns out that panic is as dangerous as any other pathogen, and we live in a crisis of panic. Right now, there's been a 51% increase in inpatient hospitalizations this year among youth aged 18 and under, and the majority of those are females.

I'm not a Christian boogeyman or anything. I don't always have to have a boogeyman in the room. But we should pay attention to the metrics. We know there's an anxiety crisis in our country. We know that. This is also, I think, the most important question the church can answer. That's why I start the book this way. We have the answer for anxiety. It's shalom. It's Jesus. We need to help people get there and then live in it.

Having lived in it through my own life and then developing this peace plan, I want to tell you what I did. You know, this is what comes out of writing 70,000 words on the peace of God: one page, 20 steps of how I live in the peace of God for my life. These are the non-negotiables. I don't do these with perfection, but again, I've eliminated all-or-nothing thinking from my life. It's not all or nothing thinking. The Christian life isn't all or nothing.

"Oh, I messed up today, so I'm just not going to live for the Lord anymore." But so many of us have that all-or-nothing thinking, and that brings anxiety as well. My number one. Are you ready for this, Dave?

Speaker 3

Practical ways to implement shalom. I want to hear.

Speaker 1

Stop obsessively checking the news.

Speaker 2

There you go.

Speaker 3

You just wrote that five minutes ago. Listen, that was your number one.

Speaker 1

That was my number one.

And because our minds are not geared to read a body count every single day, now, that doesn't mean we don't care.

But again, our minds are not wired to just be inundated with the murder number, the body count, the pathogen, the pain every single day.

Speaker 2

Jeremiah, talk about this too because you have five kids.

But we have a lot of listeners that have kids that are teenagers and they have that phone with them and they're constantly checking.

So as parents, as your kids are getting older, how will you help navigate that?

Speaker 1

Well, first off, it's the greatest conflict in our personal home. I totally understand that there are the devices, and I talked about this as I was writing "Unleashing Peace." Even before the pandemic, psychologists couldn't quantify the damage that all these devices were doing to young people. And that was before the pandemic, where we sent devices home with everyone, and they were on them all day just because they had to be to have education, which was a total failure in and of itself.

So, long story short, they already knew it was a problem. I get it; I live in that tension. With five kids and devices, we have to limit these things in our kids' lives. And again, I'm preaching to the choir. You guys have done great programs on managing social media and all these devices. We have to because that is a source that is so toxic, especially for our young women.

Eating disorders, the most fatal of all mental illnesses, are eating disorders. People don't realize that's the most fatal. So, stopping to check the news, not doom scrolling, and not contributing to the panic is crucial.

Speaker 2

What's that mean?

Speaker 1

I'm going to be less provocable in my Christian life. There is an entire industry out there, Ann, and you know this. They are betting on the fact that they can clickbait you to death and they can get you to get engaged in all kinds of fights with people you don't even know on social media. They don't know you, you don't know them, and you're just. It's the rage machine, and we're not going to live in the peace of God, Dave, if we're just constantly living in "I'm provoked city" over everything.

I mean, I'm an expert in late antiquity. The Roman Empire was way worse than it is today. Paul could have been provoked by everything. Every time he opened his eyes, he stayed central to the gospel of Jesus Christ. That's why I love Family Life Today—central to the gospel and its power to change lives. That's why it's such an honor to be on this program with you.

Speaker 3

And I've even found in reference to that I can get caught up in the comment section.

Speaker 1

Yes.

Speaker 3

Somebody post something and it may be sort of just mild but then the comments go crazy. And that's where I start scrolling.

Speaker 1

Exactly.

Speaker 3

It's almost like you're watching a car wreck this.

Speaker 2

Come over here. Look at this.

Speaker 3

Yeah. And it's like, what am I doing? So that's a great one.

Speaker 1

And it's just an off dram.

Speaker 3

Stop doom scrolling.

Speaker 1

Stop doom scrolling.

Speaker 3

Don't contribute. Number four is a big one.

Speaker 1

Stay social. And this was where I was so affected. You know, the worst punishment psychologists will tell us for a human being is isolation. So if you're isolated, that's the worst you think about, like solitary confinements.

So stay social. Establish a daily schedule. We gotta rise and grind. We got to have that schedule in our life.

Leave the house. Like you could sit in that content chair all day long, eight days a week and just die. So get out of the house. Go to Costco.

Speaker 2

Sometimes we have to push them back.

Speaker 1

Yeah. Get off the devices, get out into nature. I need more beauty in my life.

Exercise is huge. The cheapest therapy we can do every day is exercise for the benefits we get mentally from it.

And then, 10 through 20, really get practical. Start thanking God more for what he's done instead of always worrying about what comes next.

Speaker 3

Now, when you were walking through that valley, was worry a big part of it?

Speaker 1

Absolutely not knowing. We had just taken a major step of faith in 2019 and expanded as a ministry. Right before the pandemic, it was incredible. Greatest year of ministry.

And then it's like the floor fell out. And then being isolated, I'm thinking too.

Speaker 2

Our listeners don't know this, but Jeremiah came into our studio. He goes in and meets everybody.

He's sitting, you know, in our sound booth and he's talking to everybody. He's like everybody's best friend.

You are an incredible extrovert. Love people.

Speaker 1

So this isolation I was dying, I had never experienced. I mean, I've been doing. I've been involved in church life for as long as I can remember, and I just love it. And this whole thing of stay home, don't talk to your neighbors, don't you know, it was killing me.

You know, number 11 was huge. Look at art more. We need more beauty in our life. Arthur Wendell Holmes, that great Wheaton professor, said, all truth is God's truth. And so I'm not going to find a single bit of truth that doesn't drive us right back to the God of the Bible, because all truth is God's truth. And we need more beauty.

Have quiet time. Prayer in any sleepless moments, lying in bed. And then if I fall asleep while I'm praying, just consider that a gift from God. Just turn those worries into prayers.

Here's a really practical one. Use Scripture Typer. I don't know if you all have seen this app to memorize scripture, but it's called Scripture Typer, and a friend of mine recommended it to me. And it's just a great way to just practice memorizing scripture.

And the sword of the spirit is the word of God, and huge for us. When stress or anxiety fills my mind—and you've brought this up—I need to replace it with these key verses. That's how I'm going to have shalom in my life. There's no way around that in the Christian life.

We just have to stop right there. Like, there's not a secret sauce that you guys know or just a few Delta Force Christians like you. We all have to do the same thing, don't we?

Speaker 2

I love the language that's used in scripture too. Take every thought captive.

When Jesus said, "I came to set the captive free," I'm thinking of taking those thoughts and putting them in a cell, and I will not let them out.

Learning how to do that for me has been huge. I'm not going to think that.

Using scripture to replace those thoughts is a huge transformation.

Speaker 1

It literally will rewire. I mean, we don't have time to go into neuroplasticity. It will rewire the way you think. And I can attest to that.

Speaker 3

I mean, here's another one that I know you even put in your book: 1 Peter 5. Cast all your anxiety, violent. You know, I literally think of.

I preached, you know, preacher, you know, I gotta get the fishing line out and cast worry and had a guy in the audience, you know, put on peace coming back.

But I found, and I think it's for all of our realities, you got to do that over and over.

Speaker 1

Over and over maybe 5,000 times today.

Speaker 3

It doesn't happen once.

Speaker 1

The force of the language is even more than casting. I like J.B. phillips. You've got to, like, slam dunk your worries on God. You got to just crush them down on God. That's what he wants you to do. And trust me, he can take it.

Speaker 3

That's good.

Speaker 1

You know, I want to talk about this. Saying thank you, Jesus throughout the day.

Speaker 3

Yeah, what's that?

Speaker 1

This is. And again, a lot of people have been talking about this. I've been talking about it since 2015. A great barometer of our mental health is our ability to experience gratitude. It's amazing when we do something the Bible tells us to do, count our blessings. We're a lot happier when we focus on the blessings, the positives in our life.

Yale University's most popular class of all time is a class on happiness. And the big outcome of that class is a gratitude journal. Well, the scripture's been telling us to do that for 2,000 years. They can call it a gratitude journal. Today at Yale, the Bible calls it counting your blessings. And you're a lot healthier person when you focus on the blessings in your life.

We've all been around people and benefited from people. They just focus on the positive. Don't you love being around people like that? And we can't stand the negative Nellie who's always in the room and reminding us of what we can't do. Didn't do. Didn't happen, you know? Yeah, we don't want that. And the Bible doesn't want to do that.

Speaker 3

It's so easy to do.

Speaker 1

Totally. It is to complain.

Speaker 3

We all got things to complain about. You're saying, get out of that valley.

Speaker 1

Say thank you, Jesus, throughout the day.

Speaker 2

Last week I ended up going on a walk. A lot of times I'll listen to podcasts or scripture, but this time I left my phone at home and went for a long walk.

As I was walking and praying outdoors, it was beautiful out in Florida. Looking at nature, I thought, "Lord, for this entire time, all I'm going to do is thank you and praise you."

Speaker 1

That's so powerful.

Speaker 2

I was crying by the end because when you think through what God has done and the goodness, and it's not that there aren't bad or hard things, but when you think about God's goodness or maybe just little things and you say them out loud, that's why I was in tears.

I was praying out loud. I wasn't around anybody but man. My heart was filled with joy. It was filled with peace. That surpasses, and I love that scripture. It surpasses all understanding.

Speaker 1

Absolutely. I mean, that's huge. And for those of you who are joining us, I'm just reviewing my personal peace steps, and I would encourage people to develop their own, like Ann. That's a beautiful analogy.

Here's point 16. I want you to listen closely to this one. There are things only God can control and things He allows me to take part in controlling. I try and discern which are which and only work to resolve the things He allows me to help control. We could do a whole show on that because I'm a control freak. I live and die by my schedule—traveling, writing, speaking. I want to control everything.

And man, there are things God doesn't need my help with. Jeremiah Johnston thinks he's God's chief of staff. Did you know that? I do. I want to help God control things in my life, and I just can't do that if I'm going to live in the peace of God.

Speaker 3

How do you navigate that as a dad?

Speaker 1

Yeah, I don't know if I do it very well. But I will tell you this: we have a very open dialogue in our family.

Our kids know they can talk to us about anything. Our kids also know that nothing changes our love for them.

No decision they could ever make would change their value in our eyes or the love that we have for them.

Speaker 3

Have they experienced much anxiety?

Speaker 1

You know, our son Justin has. Yeah, yeah. The mask wearing just crushed him emotionally. And also the change in schedule. He's kind of like his dad, a very schedule-oriented guy. And like he just didn't understand. And yet we broke free of that. Praise God. And again through talking.

And I'll just mention this, I know y'all have done so many helpful programs. Kids don't walk up and say, "Hey, Dave, I'm having a panic attack." They say they have constant headaches or they have constant stomach aches. Those are the two big signs. I'm not a psychologist, but if you have a child who is regularly complaining of headaches and/or stomach aches, you should probably have a professional just work with you—a Christian counselor, a Christian therapist—to help you with your child. Because they're saying more than that. So again, huge on that one.

A true sabbatical is huge. A time of rest to do what feeds my soul. Resting my mind, not thinking about the next sermon.

Speaker 3

The Sabbath rest is something I think we just don't think is that important. It's a Ten commandment.

Speaker 1

It is. And it's part of shalom. I mean, God says, rest, chill out, relax, do something fun.

Speaker 3

So in your crazy busy schedule, do you Sabbath?

Speaker 1

Absolutely. We have a lot of fun Sabbathing too. Sabbath isn't boring. It's fun.

Speaker 2

But even when you Sabbath, you're Sabbathing. But I like what you said. Like you're not not thinking about the next.

Speaker 1

Oh yeah, this goes into the next point about being able to say no. But you know, we can't Sabbath and check our phones 2000 times that day and be present with our family.

And so we have to have those moments. And they're holy moments. You just say, no, I'm not available, sorry. I'm going to be with my kids today.

I'm going to go and have a blast, make weird noises and just have a fun time with them. And, you know, we do that.

Speaker 3

I mean, in some ways, you're Sabbathing down here in Orlando a little bit, right?

Speaker 1

Absolutely. And again, thank you guys for encouraging your guests to bring your families with them. And first off, it's great to expose them to a place like this because I know they're taking that in verbally and non-verbally. But yeah, to get down here and just have fun and travel.

I'm a big travel narrator. When we travel, I'm pointing things out. I'm a travel guide in the car, so they kind of get bored with that. But big one for me. And again, as the Lord blesses you, wherever you are in life, you're going to have opportunities.

And it doesn't mean you have to say yes to everything. Now, no one gave us Christian Thinker Society. You know, we became our ministry before we ever knew we had one. And there was a time in my life I said yes to everything because I'm just trying to be faithful and see our ministry grow.

Speaker 2

I have a husband that can say.

Speaker 1

That too, you know, But I had.

Speaker 2

To learn say yes to everything.

Speaker 1

I had to learn the power of saying no. I'm just sorry, I can't do that. And I realized I had like 11 different inboxes. So, I had to start telling people, you know, I don't respond to this inbox. Kind of like text me or email me; I just didn't have time.

Don't make decisions when I'm tired or discouraged. This is a real challenging one because I was in a season of months of discouragement. You have to make decisions at some point during that time period, but I was in a funk.

That's where, like we talked about, having that care team was so helpful because sometimes you need people to come alongside and help you think, right?

Speaker 3

Yeah.

Speaker 1

And just say, you know, Jeremiah, you're not processing this the right way. And this is where I'm just thankful for this teaching of shalom, because it's all right there. We just need to do it. We need to have a shalom team, a care team.

And then 20 was huge for me. I have a doctor. I mean, I travel with all kinds of supplements and nutritional habits and eating, and just taking care of our physical temples will help us think better.

And so again, we're talking about my personal 20 steps. You know, I needed 20. I mean, you, Ann, might only need two.

Speaker 2

I might need 50.

Speaker 1

You exude the peace of God. You know, these are things that are so important. And then when I live in the peace of God, I then can be an agent of peace for others. This will set you apart in your Christian life.

There's this amazing story I tell in "Unleashing Peace" of a gentleman who was just given the highest civilian honor that the nation of Australia bestows. They call him the "Angel of the Gap." He lived in the beautiful Sydney harbor in a very expensive area called the Gap, which is also known for its sandstone cliffs. It's one of the number one suicide spots in the world. For 50 years, Don Ritchie lived there. He sold kitchen appliances and was just a salesman. He was part of the greatest generation, a World War II veteran, decorated for his service.

He began to notice when people would linger just a little too long by themselves at the Gap, at the cliffside. He would walk up and say, "Hey, do you want to come to my house for some tea?" At his funeral recently, it was documented that his son said, "My dad saved over 400 lives from suicide." One of the people he saved later painted a canvas, sent it to him, and said, "Thank you. You're the Angel of the Gap." Literally, they said an angel walked among us.

Don did not have a single credential in mental health. He wasn't trained psychologically, but he could practice what the Bible talks about—the ministry of being present. He said, "Don't ever underestimate the power of a smile in someone's life." My biggest challenge is that we're so busy; we never know what someone else is dealing with, and we always assume negatively. That person could be going through their biggest challenge. Why don't you just smile at them, practice the ministry of presence, and give them grace? Don exemplifies that for us, and that's why I wanted to highlight that powerful story.

So when I live in these 20 steps, I can be like Don Ritchie. I can practice the peace of God because some people need to see it on us to believe that they can actually get there.

Speaker 2

That was one of my favorite parts of your book, is that story, because it makes you realize anybody can minister to another person just by being there. You don't even have to have the right words.

Speaker 1

No, but you don't even have to say present.

Speaker 2

Hey, I'm Ann. You know, how are you doing today? That's something that you're right, Jeremiah. As we get so caught up in our own worlds and the demands of life, it's really easy to not notice those around us.

Speaker 3

And I think another aspect of that story is all around us are people walking toward that bridge.

Speaker 1

Exactly.

Speaker 3

It's not literally a bridge, but they're struggling. It could even be our own kids. It could be our spouse.

Speaker 1

Absolutely.

Speaker 3

And God's saying, I can bring my peace to them through you. Will you just be present? That's a beautiful motivation to. If God gives me peace, it's probably not just for me. He wants me to extend it to others.

Speaker 1

Absolutely. He wants you to be an agent of shalom. And I'll just end with this. We all need to be saved from ourselves, too.

I used to live in the UK, where I did my doctoral residency in Oxford. And there's this beautiful picture of a young man who has all of these individuals holding him. He's standing outside of the walkway of a bridge over the busiest intersection in North London, Golders Green. And he was getting ready to jump. All these strangers who were walking by him collapse on the man and save him from himself. You don't think God's providential? Someone had a rope going home from work that day. Another person is grabbing his belt buckle. Another person has him by his calf muscles.

For me, when I saw that picture, I now show it anywhere I speak. I open the book *Unleashing Peace* with that story because it is an illustrated sermon for me. We have to be saved from ourselves. This is the heart of Jesus towards every person struggling right now.

God can use anyone, like you said, Ann, to be a change agent in someone's life, a peace agent, a shalom agent. And so that's my prayer. I want to be present enough in my life to see when those people or myself need help. When I need to be saved from myself. I allow people to collapse around me and help me. That's the Christian life.

Speaker 2

Hey, guys. We just wanted to take a quick minute to jump in and say, whatever you're going through today, I think this is important to remember you aren't alone.

And did you know that Dave and I have a team at Family Life today ready to pray for you? It’s this incredible honor and a privilege to lift your name up to God. So if you need prayer, please don't hesitate to reach out to us. I really mean that.

Head on over to familylife.com/prayforme. Again, that's familylife.com/prayforme and tell us how we can pray.

And again, we are not kidding. Dave and I have a prayer team specifically dedicated to praying for our listeners. I pray for some of these while I'm on my walks with God; I just pray. I will pray for you.

And Dave, you always fast on Fridays, and that's when you pray.

Speaker 3

Yeah, I take the whole day, and instead of eating food, I'm praying. And I'm praying for my family. But I'm also praying for you and your family. And isn't that a great thing to know that someone's praying for you?

Speaker 2

Yes.

Speaker 3

And if it's not Ann and I praying for you, someone from our small prayer team will pray for you by name. We love to do it. So go to familylife.com prayforme and support. Submit your requests. And I mean, do it right now. We would love to pray for you today.

When Jeremiah was talking about peace, a lack of anxiety and worry, if there's anything our world needs right now, that's it, isn't it?

Speaker 2

We all long for it, but we don't know how to attain it.

Speaker 3

Yeah. And you know, one of the things we briefly touched on with Jeremiah, and it's in his book Unleashing Peace, is. Is my go to passage. Philippians 4.

Speaker 2

All of our go to passage, all of us love this.

Speaker 3

I love how Paul says. He says, do not be anxious about anything.

I mean, it's a command. It isn't a suggestion. He's actually saying, this is possible.

You don't have to worry. You don't have to fret. You don't have to be anxious about the big things, little things, about anything.

Speaker 2

Here's the thing about Paul, too, is you read that, and some people, you'd think, well, you can say that. Look how easy your life is. But Paul, for a good part of his life, he spent it in prison.

Speaker 3

He's writing this from a prison cell. And I think, as Jeremiah said, it comes down to an action, which is in this passage that I had never really seen. Because he doesn't just say, don't be anxious about anything. That's what we don't do. But he says, do this. So he gives you an answer, but in every situation.

So again, big ones, little ones, the one you're in right now, the one that's coming tomorrow, here's what you do: Prayer and petition with thanksgiving. Present your request to God. There's an action step. Pray about it. Petition means make a list. If you have to literally get out your journal and say, "God, this is what I'm struggling with. I don't know if I can pay the mortgage. My son is battling something, a medical condition. I don't know. The future, whatever it is," says, thank God that he's with you in it.

And present those; in other words, let it go. We talked about 1 Peter, cast it to God, and then he says something will happen. What's he say?

Speaker 2

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

Speaker 3

So if you want peace, there's a way. And I would say it's not a way, it's a person.

Speaker 2

Well, it's interesting because Jesus, of all the people that I know, I would say, you live this out. What are you talking about? I'm not kidding.

Speaker 3

You don't know what's swirling around in my mind.

Speaker 2

Let me just say this. It was interesting. We just had one of our sons visit us in Florida, and you were ahead of us on your motorcycle. And this son, because I couldn't fit.

Speaker 3

In the car with the grandkids, I had to ride my motorcycle everywhere we went.

Speaker 2

But this son looked at you in front of us on your motorcycle, and he said, and he's in ministry. He's building a ministry. And he said, man, I needed this trip because I need to. Makes me teary thinking about it. I need to get some lessons from my dad because he lives his life in peace.

And he's, you know, there's so much going on in the world and his ministry and a lot of hard things, and yet he looks at you and you've gone through some really difficult things, but you live your life in peace. It's a peace that surpasses all understanding because it doesn't make sense.

So I feel like, as you're preaching, that you live this. And do you think I like to share with us? Because I've seen you live it out beautifully, not perfectly. How do you do it?

Speaker 3

Well, I think it's the next verse, which is what Jeremiah Johnston, when he was talking and when I read his book *Connected*, that there's an action verb that connects us to peace. And he calls it. It's our thinking.

And it's what Paul went on to say in verse eight. Often we stop with verse seven: "Peace surpasses all understanding or guard our hearts and minds in Christ." We're like, oh, that's awesome. And we forget. No, no. The next thing he said is not a separate thought. It's in context.

He says, "Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable. If anything is excellent or praiseworthy, here's the verb: Think about such things."

I think one of the things I take away from today's interview was that peace comes through what we dwell on. What do we think about? And Paul is saying, think about good things, pure things, right things.

Speaker 2

That's so wise. I sit there and think, that's denial. You know, like that we need to think about reality, and reality is harsh and reality's hitting us head on.

And it's so. It can feel like, no, Paul's saying, don't think about those things. Not that we're not dealing with life and we're in denial, but I feel like you've done that.

Speaker 3

Well, I would just say it's a war. It's a battle, the battle of the mind. Because your mind will go to the negative, it'll go to the news that's often negative, and you'll get scared, anxious, worried. I've done it millions of times. I'm sitting there thinking, you think I have peace all the time. It's like, it's a war. It is literally a mental battle in my mind and everyone's mind to say, I'm going to take this negative thought captive. I literally think of grabbing, stabbing it and putting it in a prison cell and saying, you're not going to live in my brain. I'm going to think about what's noble and right and praiseworthy. I'm going to think about Jesus. Because peace isn't a feeling, it's a person. Peace is Jesus. He's the prince of peace. And when you set your heart and mind and it's guarded by him, the result is peace. And again, I'm not going to sit here and say, oh, it's just peace that lasts forever. No, it's like gone in five minutes sometimes. And again you have to cast again that thought, that negative.

Speaker 2

I love that idea of casting. You can throw it. Yeah. You can see it on a fishing pole, casting it.

Speaker 3

And I love how Jeremiah brought the sense that the verb is. It's like with force. You don't just sort of flippantly, okay. God, no. It's like, I need you so bad. I'm bringing this to you right here, right now. Will you guard my heart and mind in you? And he's like, yeah. Yes, I got it. You may have to cast it 5,000 times today. Every time that your mind starts to go to anxiety. Don't worry about anything. With prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your Request to God. Why do I have that memorized? Because I've done it a million times. And that's where peace is, it's in a person, Jesus. And the closer we walk with him, the greater the depth of the peace we feel.

Speaker 2

Well, I don't know if you've done this, but I have often woken up in the middle of the night with my mind racing like instantly. Fear based, like what could happen to our kids, our grandkids, our future. There's so many different things that have kept me awake at night. Even when they were teenagers especially that's when I was waking up the most.

Speaker 3

I didn't worry about the kids, I just worried about the car insurance to pay for.

Speaker 2

That's so true. We're so different that way. But even now, if I wake up, I feel like now what I'm starting to do, I'll do that casting. And I'm so visual have to visually see Jesus in front of me. And then I've shared this before. I take the thing that's weighting me down of creating so much worry and anxiety and I picture myself handing it to Jesus and then I see myself standing free like sets the captive free. I'm not carrying it. I've given it to him because he says, come to me all of you who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you you rest. And so I picture him taking it and then I'll ask this question, Jesus, is there anything I need to do? And if something pops into my mind, it could be. Usually there's nothing to me, it's he's saying rest. But that's been a really good visual practice of my casting. Like I have to visually see myself handing it to him, but that's hard to do. It's hard to not just go back and back and back and try to carry it ourselves.

Speaker 3

Well, I'm hoping. And just as a result of our conversation, a listener today says, you know what, I'm not going to carry this any longer. I am going to let it go to the Prince of Peace and I'm going to pray and thank him for my life and I'm going to trust him and I'm going to trust that he'll bring peace as well. And every time my mind goes somewhere else, I'm going to keep that thought captive and allow him to, to change my thinking, which will change my peace. And I hope couples do this together.

Speaker 2

Me too.

Speaker 3

That a husband and wife will do it together.

Speaker 2

Will you just read it one last time? That think about these things. What are the things we're just thinking about?

Speaker 3

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, if anything is excellent or praiseworthy, think about such things.

Speaker 2

It's really good.

Speaker 3

And even says this, whatever you have learned or received or heard from me or seen in me, put it into practice and the God of Peace will be with you.

Speaker 2

Absolutely. That is so true. And hey, for you, the listener, if you want to dive more into this topic, go to familylifetoday.com and check out this episode's show notes. And we've got a link to Jeremiah Johnston's book Unleashing Peace. And let me just add, if you know anyone who needs to hear conversations just like this one, we'd love it if you would just share today's specific conversation from wherever you get your podcasts. And while you're there, just a simple way that you can help more people discover God's plan for families is by leaving a room. Rating and our review for Family Life Today. We would really appreciate it if you do that.

Speaker 3

We're David Ann Wilson and we will see you back next time for another edition of Family Life today.

Speaker 2

Family Life Today is a donor supported production of Family Life, a crew ministry helping you pursue the relationships that matter most.