I went to church one evening for a young adults worship night, after much thought and deliberation, you know them days 😉 . We sang a song that night which caused me to consider something that had never crossed my mind.

A line from the song goes:

I will love you Lord my shield

I’ve always known God to be my shield. However, my interpretation of Him being my shield was quite limited. I always thought he was shielding me from external things such as crazy people trying to run me over, thieves, danger, etc. However, this evening, I realised that God is not only shielding me from external dangers and attack, but also internal attack. It’s crazy to consider the concept of internal attack but if you think deeply enough, you’ll realise it exists, maybe has different titles to different people, but it’s the same concept underneath all that.

You might ask what internal attack looks like. I’d say it’s anything that turns you against yourself, any source of internal conflict such as low self-esteem, self-doubt, low self-confidence, etc. Having internal conflict does not mean you’re weak (*insert term similar to weakness). It simply identifies an area of your life, or my life that needs a bit more work. I would say I’m relatively confident, not bags of confidence but enough 😉 When I started working, I had the worst ever case of internal attack. It felt like my thoughts were attacking me, like they hated me. I’m not crazy or being melodramatic, promise #scoutshonor It was horrible! What do you do when you’re both judge and jury for yourself?

Allow me to set the scene. I was due to start a weekend shift (which is dreadful!) and was understandably worried about it and how I’ll survive the weekend. Going along that night and hearing that line was a breakthrough for me. I realised #eurekamoment that God can and does shield me from the interal conflict I have. I don’t have to suffer through it, endure it, etc. I can give it to God because he is big enough to shield me from external attack and also internal attack! So, I don’t know what’s going on in your life, maybe everything is just peachy or maybe you’ve hit a few bumps in the road, wherever you’re at, know that God wants to be a part of it. He loves you, all of you, not just the neat and tidy parts but also those rough edges, those dark, tarnished spots. Giving it to God is not equivalent to automatic evaporation of the issue. Prayer is not a magic wand. He can make a bad situation ‘less bad’ #dontshootme #iknowwhatisaid So you have nothing to lose!

In my own situation, having that realisation alone was a major victory for me. I was no longer dreading the weekend. I wasn’t ecstatic to be working but I was quite happy to go to work. That weekend, I had help and favour from people and it turned out to be a good weekend! Not necessarily because there was less work, but more because I was at peace, the internal storm previously brewing was calm!

So, i challenge you today. Don’t remain in the vicious cycle of internal conflict! No matter what it is, how bad you think it is or how long it’s been going on for, God wants to come into that situation and bring his peace. He wants to shield you from yourself! Will you let him?