Are you always trying to make your surroundings peaceful? Are you wanting rest outside of you?
Here is something to think about. God wants you to be at rest in the inside. When all things are going well in your life and you are at peace inside, that is not true peace. True peace is when all hell is surrounding you and you still are at rest in your soul. This is the peace God wants you to have, but it doesn't come naturally. You have to practice it by pursuing it and by laboring to stay in it.
You pursue peace by the choices you make. If God tells you not to say something or not to do something and you obey him, you have chosen peace.
You labor to enter into his rest by choosing to keep your mind on Jesus instead of keeping your mind on the turmoil around you. It is a labor at first because you are not used to it, but eventually it will be a new habit. Eventually you will automatically choose to ignore the turmoil in your mind or around you, and start immediately thinking about Jesus.
Here are some things to think about instead of thinking about the turmoil around you. The God of the universe is living inside of you. His Spirit, who raised Jesus from the dead, is living inside of you. There is nothing too hard for him. He freely gives you all things. He loves you like no one else in this world. He favors you. He longs for you.
Something I do which really helps keep my mind on Jesus is every time I read a verse that brings joy to my soul, I write it on a 3x5 card and put it in my purse, so I always have my go to verses near me.
God wants you to get this. He wants you to rest in it. He wants you to remain calm and restful on the inside. He does not want you to worry or be anxious. When you worry or are anxious, you are not trusting him. You are not believing him. The Bible says unbelief is disobedience.
When you have rest inside of you, it doesn't matter what is going on around you, you will remain at rest.
