I was spending time in the Tabernacle the other day and I was praying and asking God about some relational stuff that I was going through and I heard Him say to me “Don’t pray for peace in your relationships pray for Health”. At first I was confused by the first part of this, don’t pray for peace?? I thought surely I heard that wrong. But then as I thought about it, the absolute profoundness of this hit home. If ‘peace’ in a relationship is your main thing or main goal then your responses and what you allow people to do are very different than if ‘health’ in a relationship is the main thing. I started to think about different relationships that I have with people, and how I believe that I have been for years having ‘Peace’ as the ultimate aim. The outcome of this is that I have allowed and participated in unhealthy stuff that I was uneasy about but allowed because doing as the other party wanted bought ‘peace’ or at least avoidance of conflict. Now as I have walked in this new revelation for a couple of weeks, I do truly believe it was a word from God as I believe it is profound and it has bought great freedom and health to me.
When I have ‘health’ as my ultimate goal I am not afraid of or manipulated by a little ruffling of feathers or other people not getting what they want from me, like I would have been if I was looking for peace. When Health in relationships is my goal, I am finding myself to be freer to be myself to say what I truly believe and to be more forthright and honest. I can say that I am enjoying this revelation and that I love healthy relationships. Interestingly enough, ‘true peace’ comes when you know that you have acted in open healthy ways, the false peace or calm may be disrupted along the way, but the true peace that comes from healthy relationships is well worth it. Maybe I have finally learnt what ‘peace’ in relationships actually is??!!
I am also cautious that I need to keep pride in check as I do this, always acting in humility otherwise I might find myself pridefully disrupting relationships or not caring enough for the feelings of others, but I have a new main thing that I aim for in relationships, it is no longer Peace but now HEALTH.