Restoring Your Spirit Through God’s Grace, Truth, and Peace

My office is the first one on the long hallway to the main office as you enter the church. People often pop in to say “hello” or ask a music ministry-related question. Sometimes they plop down and we have a chat about whatever is concerning them – life issues of all varieties. Clearly their spirits are anxious, weary, and in need of consolation and restoration. Admittedly, more often than not, so is mine.

God’s Grace
God’s grace is ongoing and limitless. In the day-to-day grind of work and stress and media consumption, we often miss the grace that is ever-present. Yes, God’s grace is all around us, but we must look for it intentionally.

After reading Ann Voskamp’s One Thousand Gifts more than a decade ago, I began listing God’s gifts daily. I planned to do this until I reached a thousand, yet this daily discipline so changed the way I see life and its fullness that I have continued all these years. The one thousand has grown into tens of thousands. This discipline has taught me that grace and gratitude are inseparable. Once gratitude kicks in, you discover so many gifts hidden within each day. I now look for God in the small, grace-filled moments all around, and not just in the big lightning-flash revelations.

From his abundance we have all received one gracious blessing after another. For the law was given through Moses, but God’s unfailing love and faithfulness came through Jesus Christ.
—John 1:16–17 (NLT)

As the awareness of grace grows in our lives, we learn that we can share that grace with grace-starved people all around us in our church, our choirs, even in our families. We can share God’s restorative grace with others from an abundant, never-ending supply with no need to hoard or stockpile. We can offer grace to others through genuine, judgment-free attentiveness to what concerns them most.

God’s Truth
How does God’s truth restore the spirit? I think it starts with building an intimate relationship with our Creator through Bible study, spiritual reflection, and prayer. Spending time in God’s presence, studying the life of Jesus, reading God’s Word – this is revelational. Jesus is God’s Word, God’s truth. This intimacy that comes over time is purely soul refreshing and puts us in a position to abide in God’s love. We learn that when we seek God, we will find God.

Moses had a deeply intimate relationship with God. They met together in solitary places: from hours in the wilderness to days on mountain peaks, an honest, intimate relationship developed. God sought Moses, and Moses sought God.

Scheduling time with God is so critical to building intimacy. Our calendars are filled with appointments, meetings, and events. Is there any white space left for God? Where in a day, a week, a month can we even fit God into our lives?

You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.
—Jeremiah 29:13 (NIV)

Consider this word: intentionality. What if we were to honor divine appointments the way we protect all the other items on the calendar? Knowing that God offers unlimited grace, do we preempt or even cancel time alone with God, thinking we just can’t let someone down? Ask yourself: Why would you think someone needs you more than you need God?

God’s Peace
God’s peace may seem elusive to us if we expect God’s peace to prevail in the world. Recall these words of Jesus:

“I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth, you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart; because I have overcome the world.”
—John 16:33 (NLT)

It should come as no surprise to us when peace is so scarce. However, the promise is that we can and will have peace. I believe that is the peace within our spirit or peace of mind; you know, the peace that “passes all understanding.” It is the peace that is found during the struggles of life, when the realization comes – God is right there with you, and you have never felt such overwhelming peace. God’s peace eases over us like warm sunshine emerging from a cloud-filled sky; you turn your face toward it and soak in every ray.

If you want to see someone with a peaceful spirit, look for one to whom you are naturally drawn – what person of peace do you know? Observe them carefully. Take notes. Is it possible to become such a person? Strive to live in God’s peace, and when the opportunity arises, share it with other seekers of peace.

Restoration: Ministering to Your Own Spirit
I like to think of this restorative process as an investment of my time that makes me a more effective ministry leader, spouse, parent, and friend. My spiritual health becomes beneficial to everyone I regularly encounter. I’ll leave you with a few suggestions that have helped me along the way.

• Plan regular mini-retreats – secret appointments with God. It could be at a park, on your porch, in an empty sanctuary – someplace private where you will not be interrupted for a half hour or so. No phones allowed!
• Neglect not your own worship in your eagerness to lead others to do the same. Make personal worship preparation, not just rehearsals and practice time, a priority.
• Keep an ongoing list or journal of thanksgiving, gratitude, and grace gifts from God. Revisit the list from time to time; you will be encouraged!
• Feed your soul with whatever is lacking: music, art, exercise, travel, reading, time with friends… create a menu of “soul food” you have been missing.
• Select a favorite hymnal and read through the hymns – no singing, no music, just the hymn text. The hymnal is my favorite devotional book.
• Constantly read and pray through the book of Psalms. As church musicians, this book has extra meaning!
• Reclaim the love of your art and let that minister to your own soul as much as it does to others.
• Find a reliable confidant, pastor, or counselor – preferably not someone you work with, someone with understanding and objectivity – a spiritual sounding board. Connect with this person regularly.
• Be still before God every single day… and don’t feel guilty about the time!

“Step out of the traffic! Take a long, loving look at me, your High God,
above politics, above everything.
—Psalm 46:10 (MSG)