Seek Peace for Your Troubled Heart  

Maybe you have seen it imprinted on a bookmark, a refrigerator magnet, or some kind of framed wall-hanging. It is the familiar prayer that says, “God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference.” This is actually only a portion of what has been referred to as “The Serenity Prayer.” While it isn’t scripture, thus lacking that level of divine authority and inspiration, it has certainly been a help to many people. It points us to the hope that instead of turmoil, chaos, and worry raging inside of us, we can experience peace in our hearts and minds.

As we seek such serenity, we should recognize first of all that Christ is the source of true peace. While our attitude and outlook can make a big difference, peace isn’t something we can achieve on our own. Real, long-lasting peace comes only from the Lord. We are not going to possess true peace in our hearts regarding our circumstances or other people until we first make peace with God. The way to be reconciled with Him is through believing and accepting the gift of salvation Jesus provided for us through His sacrifice for our sins. So if we are looking for peace, we must start there. Find peace with God through Jesus, then we can talk about serenity in connection with all the other issues in our lives.

Concerning those soul-troubling situations we often face, this prayer asks God to grant us the serenity to accept what we cannot change. Sometimes we let things upset us which are out of our control. We worry and get all worked up over circumstances we can’t change. We fret over people who have to make their own choices in life. What they do is out of our hands. However, this prayer for peace doesn’t mean we simply need to dismiss those matters from our minds. As followers of Jesus, we have a better option. We commit it to the Lord and trust Him to take care of it. We know that He can do what we cannot do, even working in the hearts of other people involved. And we can still do something. We can pray. Turn your worry list into your prayer list. Rather than staying awake all night running through all the worst-case scenarios or planning your strategies, talk to God about it.

Then there is the other part of that prayer about granting us the courage to change what we can. Sometimes we lack serenity because we haven’t done everything we should to resolve a situation. Maybe we hesitate to make a hard decision or we run away from doing something that won’t be easy. It can be hard to ask for forgiveness or to grant forgiveness to another. It can be difficult to get out of our comfort zone to change something in our career, our family, or some other area of our life. Sometimes God calls us to do hard things. If there is some step God wants us to take to bring about a needed change, we need to do it. We won’t have peace until we do.

Let’s not forget the final part of that prayer – for wisdom to know what we can change and what we can’t. If we earnestly ask, I believe God will show us when we need to accept things as they are and when we need to take courage to make changes.

Does the word “serenity” describe the condition of your heart and mind these days? If not, take this prayer to heart. No matter what troubles come or storms blow into our lives, it doesn’t have to rob us of our peace in the Lord.