We all long to be unruffled, tranquil, and settled in our spirits and emotions when hardship and difficulty invade our lives. God uses our longing for heart-peace to motivate us to move forward with Him on our journey to heal, mature, and connect spiritually with Him. In the same way loving parents understand the necessity to love, teach, and discipline their children, with the intentions to bring good into their valuable lives, God disciplines and instructs us, His children. All children need the balance of unconditional love, loving discipline, and instruction. In fact, fathers are warned against being harsh in Ephesians 6:4,” do not irritate and provoke your children to anger [do not exasperate them to resentment], but rear them [tenderly in the training and discipline and the counsel and admonition of the Lord”. This balance is also what we, as God’s children, require in order for our soul and spirit to heal, develop, and grow. The Scripture says to count ourselves fortunate when we recognize God is our good Father. When our heart and mind acknowledges He approves, guides, and teaches us, His Spirit will progressively empower us to keep calm in the day of adversity. There is freedom when we know and believe that God is on our side and will fight for our ultimate good. When we surrender to the loving heavenly Father and receive His help in the areas of our lives that need help, He will then take these areas and do for us what we cannot do for ourselves. That is, He will give us power to overcome what opposes God’s good plans for our lives, and He will keep us peaceful, and calm in the midst of hardship and difficulty until He brings us His victory.

“Blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) is the man whom You discipline and instruct, O Lord, and teach out of Your law. That You may give him power to keep himself calm in the day of adversity” (Psalm 94:12-13a).