The Pursuit of Peace

Mary Ann Echols PhD

Description

This book provides a basic understanding of the effects of anxiety, worry and fear and outlines a path to obtaining peace of mind using spirituality and Biblically based principles.
There are so many sources of stress in today’s world. Sickness and disease, inadequate medical care, the rising cost of living, broken relationships, social conflict, violence, and grief from a pandemic that took so many lives. These problems continue to present major challenges to peace of mind. We try to find peace in any ways, but often, our best efforts just don’t seem to be good enough. This book provides helpful strategies to overcome anxiety, worry and fear and find peace of mind. The author advocates a change in perspective that shifts the focus from the external world with its trouble and unrealistic expectations to the internal world of self- awareness and spiritual truth. The internal perspective embraces faith in the power of God to change the unchangeable, control the uncontrollable and to promote spiritual healing, mental and emotional renewal and strength. Practical, biblically- based suggestions and strategies are provided to help the reader apply spiritual principles to problems and difficult circumstances. The reader is taught how to rise above circumstances, release anxiety, worry, and fear and experience true and lasting peace.

Sujets

• Religion
• Christianisme
• Christian Living
• Personal Growth
• Philosophie et théologie
• Peace
• Fear
• Anxiety
• Paix

Informations

• Publié par: WestBow Press
• Date de parution: 18 mai 2023
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781664290365
• Langue: English

Extrait

THE PURSUIT OF PEACE
 
 
LETTING GO OF ANXIETY, WORRY, AND FEAR
 
 
 
MARY ANN ECHOLS, PHD
 
 
 
 

 
Copyright © 2023 Mary Ann Echols, PhD.
 
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
 
WestBow Press
A Division of Thomas Nelson & Zondervan
1663 Liberty Drive
Bloomington, IN 47403
www.westbowpress.com
844-714-3454
 
Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.
 
Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.
Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.
 
Scripture taken from the King James Version of the Bible.
 
Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright ©1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, a Division of Tyndale House Ministries, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
 
ISBN: 978-1-6642-9037-2 (sc)
ISBN: 978-1-6642-9038-9 (hc)
ISBN: 978-1-6642-9036-5 (e)
 
Library of Congress Control Number: 2023901352
 
WestBow Press rev. date: 05/09/2023
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
As I I reflect on how this book developed, I am filled with gratitude and thanksgiving. I think of all those who supported me, fed into my spirit, taught me, and gave me wise counsel over the years. Their love and support have meant more than words can express. I am reminded that none of us ever go it completely alone. If we are open to it, God sends us help through his servants. In addition, God is always with us. Holy Spirit guides us, and the Lord Jesus Christ walks with us every step of the way. I am grateful to God for those who have journeyed with me. It gave me lessons of faith that have been both the foundation and motivation for writing this book.
I am thankful for my parents, especially my mother, Mable Ross Snipes. She taught me and my siblings about Jesus Christ at an early age. She made sure that we developed a disciplined faith by reading God’s word, praying and attending church regularly. Her expectations were high, when it came to serving the Lord, but she always set the example and showed love in her discipline and teaching. She is the reason I chose to give my life to Jesus Christ. I thank God for giving us such a wonderful mother. She was truly a gift of love and a beautiful example of devoted service to the Lord.
I am thankful and grateful for other family members and friends and for their support and words of encouragement. On many occasions I have shared my writings with them. Their positive comments, acknowledgements, and testimonies of faith encouraged me and strengthened my resolve to write and share the messages of hope God has placed in my heart.
I am especially thankful and grateful to my former pastor, the late, great, Pastor Lock P. Beachum Jr., who taught, counseled, and pastored our church family for so many years. Although he has gone on to be with the Lord now, I have been forever changed by his love, compassion, leadership, and the uncompromising truth with which he preached the word of God. Pastor Lock is greatly missed, but his life goes on within me and within so many others who were encouraged by his dedicated service to the Lord. I also want to thank and acknowledge my current pastor, Michael Anderson, who continues to lead with love, wisdom, power, and truth.
In addition, I want to acknowledge two of my closest friends, The Reverend Annie Lois Hines, a childhood friend and a powerful woman of God, who has stood with me through most of my life challenges. Her spiritual guidance has given me confidence and determination to speak and write what God puts on my heart. I also want to thank my friend of over thirty years, Regina Hall-Barbour, a gifted minister, counselor, and teacher. She has shared spiritual truth and life lessons that have been crucial to my walk with Christ. Her friendship and support have been constant and life changing.
Finally, I am thankful for the many clients I have been privileged to serve over the years. I am grateful for their trust and their perseverance in the pursuit of peace. Working with them helped sharpen my clinical skills, but I gained so much more than that. I learned to see the Spirit of God at work beyond the struggle. I learned to see their heart’s desire over their troubling thoughts and emotions. I learned to encourage hope when hope was weakened or lost. With the help of God, I also learned to inspire faith in times of deep sorrow. Every client I have had an opportunity to serve is part of lessons learned and the process of seeking and finding peace described in this book. I am thankful to have been a part of their journey. I am also thankful for all those who will be blessed by the words written here and the insights gained by reading this book. All glory to God. God is good.
CONTENTS
Introduction: Overcoming Anxiety, Worry, and Fear
PART I: BEGINNING YOUR SEARCH FOR PEACE
Chapter 1My Personal Journey to Find Peace
Chapter 2The Wrong Pursuit of Peace
Chapter 3Barriers to Peace
Chapter 4Anxiety, Worry, and Fear: Enemies of the Soul
Chapter 5Identity and the Search for Peace
Chapter 6The Deception of Worry
Chapter 7Thoughts and Perceptions: The Fuel of Anxiety, Worry, and Fear
Chapter 8God’s Promises of Help, Strength, And Restoration
Chapter 9Take Responsibility and Commit to Change
Chapter 10Seek the Presence of God
PART II: DEVELOP A MINDSET OF PEACE
Chapter 11Guard Your Heart
Chapter 12Change the Way You Think and Speak
Chapter 13Sing the Lord’s Song Anyway
Chapter 14Find the Secret Place
Chapter 15Learn to Rest in the Lord
Chapter 16Surrender the Hurt
Chapter 17The Call to Forgive
Chapter 18Brokenness: The Road to Healing
Chapter 19Trust God
Chapter 20Find Peace in the Midst of Pain
PART III: EMBRACE YOUR KINGDOM PURPOSE
Chapter 21Stop Seeking Comfort and Start Seeking God
Chapter 22Unlock the Door to Peace: Surrender, Obey, and Submit to the Will of God
Chapter 23Let Go of Your Idols
Chapter 24Leave It All at the Cross
Chapter 25Seek Wisdom
Chapter 26Follow God’s Lead
Chapter 27A Call to Prayer
PART IV: GOD’S PLAN FOR YOUR DELIVERANCE
Chapter 28The Waiting Game: God Has a Plan
Chapter 29Get Your Mind Right
Chapter 30You Can Thrive Even in Tough Times
Chapter 31Action Plan to Overcome Fear
Chapter 32Live and Walk in Freedom
Chapter 33Epilogue: Peace Is a Choice
THE PURSUIT OF PEACE: LETTING GO OF ANXIETY, WORRY AND FEAR
INTRODUCTION
Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee; because he trusteth in thee. Trust ye in the Lord forever; for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength.
—Isaiah 26: 3-4
Anxiety, worry, and fear affects us all at various times in our lives and blocks our efforts to find freedom from stress and worry and find peace. The Holy Bible instructs us to “seek peace and pursue it” (Psalm 34:14). Yet the search for peace is often a lifelong, complicated, and frustrating process for individuals as well as society at large. Whether it is seeking peace from personal distress or on a broader scale for our communities, nation, or the world, our hearts long for freedom from conflict and fear.
The purpose of this book is to guide and support the reader in the journey to find peace. This is accomplished from a biblical perspective. A biblical perspective is used because the way to true peace and freedom is spelled out in the Bible. The Christian perspective teaches us that the Holy Bible is the inspired, immutable, and eternal word of God and the most powerful resource for effective living and finding peace.
The road to peace is ultimately a search for the God of peace as revealed in his Son Jesus Christ. That search must be directed at establishing and maintaining a relationship with Jesus Christ, who points the way to a life of freedom from anxiety, worry, and fear. Through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, we were raised to a life of peace and freed from the traps of earthly bondage. When we are truly free in our minds and heart, we can more effectively and successfully seek and find the way to the God of peace.
A WORLDLY PERSPECTIVE ON PEACE
The world tends to look at peace as something that happens when you die. This type of thinking is a misconception of the nature of peace. When someone has died, you may have heard people say, “At least they are no longer suffering” or “Rest in peace.” Certainly, these words may be meant to bring comfort. It is hard to see someone grieve and not want to help them. We tend to say what others say to comfort others when they grieve, but that gives the impression that we have to die to have peace of mind. People who think or speak this way don’t understand that peace is a gift of God meant for the here and now. Before Jesus was to die on the cross, he told his disciples, “Peace I leave with you. My peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid” (John 14:27). This peace Jesu