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Welcome to episode 16.

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Today we're going to take on a posture of peace by leaning into a redeemed definition

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of normal.

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Hi, I'm Lindsay Van Zale.

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Posture is a podcast that serves as a short, audible fist bump to remind you that God is

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in everything.

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Together, we're going to be emboldened to take a daily posture of perfect peace.

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Ephesians chapter 3 verses 17 through 20 say this,

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So when I was nine, my youngest sister was born, and it became pretty apparent after

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her birth that she wasn't normal.

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And that began a trajectory for my family where we became the special needs family and

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learned how to do life in a new normal, if you will.

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Now what happened for me kind of throughout my teenage years and as we were navigating

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that dynamic as a family is I found myself grieving normal.

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I don't know if you could maybe understand this too.

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Maybe you have a special needs sibling or parent in your family or perhaps you grew

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up in a home where your parents were divorced or your family dynamic looked a little bit

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different than everyone else's and perhaps you also found yourself just grieving normal,

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desiring things to just be normal.

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What I found was by grieving normal and kind of living in that grief, all my prayers and

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my relationship with the Lord really centered around me asking constantly for normal, you

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know, whatever it was that I perceived was normal at the time.

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I just wanted to be like other families.

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I wanted to have the same freedom as other families.

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I didn't want to be having to deal with the obstacles of being in a special needs family

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or whatever that was.

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And so I began to like have this relationship with the Lord and my prayer life with the

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Lord really all centered around just wanting things to be normal.

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The Lord began to lead me around my college years into an upgraded perspective of what

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it was to live and be a part of His kingdom.

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You know, as people in the kingdom, we live with a divine privilege to redeem and redefine

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what normal is because what's normal in the world is not necessarily normal in the kingdom.

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In fact, often what is normal in the world is backwards in the kingdom.

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So we see examples of this all throughout scriptures.

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I think about James 1 where it says, you know, in the kingdom, it's normal that trials would

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produce strength in us, but in the world, we know that it's normal that suffering and

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trials would only deplete us.

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Another kingdom concept is this idea around generosity and that in order to receive, we

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give.

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We give to receive.

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That seems very backwards in order to be rich, stay rich, we need to hoard and keep as much

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as we can.

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Another kingdom dynamic is when it talks in Philippians about rejoicing always and being

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anxious for nothing and living with this peace beyond understanding where in the world, it's

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only normal that we would rejoice in the good times only.

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So again, as people in the kingdom, we're never called to the normal life.

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We're not called to the formulaic life.

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Our definition of normal is not defined by things like a job title or a certain level

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of education or, you know, an award or a certification or marriage or, you know, having a marriage

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or children at a certain age or, you know, our normal is not defined by owning certain

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possessions like owning a home at a certain time in your life or having a new car or,

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you know, furniture that you didn't buy at Ikea.

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Normal for us is never set by worldly standards because as nice it is to have all those things,

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they are true blessings.

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They are not our source for fulfillment.

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When you became a follower of Jesus, you plugged in to a different source.

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So now you can only be fulfilled by the fullness of God.

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Anything short of that just leaves us feeling unfulfilled, quite honestly.

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So I just want to encourage you, if you find yourself in a place today where you are indeed

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grieving normal, wishing life could have been or should have been a certain way and it's

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not, I just want to say there's abundant grace for you today.

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God is so kind and he's most certainly not holding your grief against you.

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The beauty is that he has made a way for you to move forward, not in the emptiness of a

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life filled with grief, but in the fullness of his abundant life.

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And again, the fullness of God is certainly no consolation prize.

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It's not a replacement.

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It is immeasurably more than anything that we could ask or think of.

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And so I just want to encourage you today.

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You serve a redeeming God and no matter what your life looks like right now or what you're

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wanting it to look like, I just want to encourage you in this, God is redeeming every single

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detail of your life so that it is marked by his fullness, not necessarily the world's

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normal.

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The promise of perfect peace is found in Isaiah 26 3 and in Hebrew it is Shalom, Shalom, meaning

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complete wholeness, nothing missing, nothing broken.

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This is who you are in Jesus.

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Let's declare this together.

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Today I am kept in perfect peace with my whole heart.

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I trust the Lord.

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I am strong.

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I am victorious.

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I am whole.

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Remember, friend, you are a living testimony of Jesus's ultimate win, not because of anything

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you did, but because of what he did for you.

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With every step you take today, you're putting Jesus's victory on display and Satan's defeat

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on replay.