Peace in the Storm with Evvie McKinney
In an interview with singer and songwriter Evvie McKinney, she shared with Family Life Radio that she has learned she cannot do anything else except serve God with her life. He is the One who will provide incomprehensible peace in troubled times.
Evvie said, “Being intentional with your relationship with God is the most important thing you can ever do with your life.”
She attributes this intentionality to growing up watching her parents and their focus on living for Christ. Evvie explained that it’s not about just going to church. She said, “It’s not just doing the stuff that looks good. It’s not just singing and writing songs. But it’s about letting God lead me, show me and teach me how to trust Him. Sometimes it’s about being quiet and waiting.”
Anyone can say they trust God. Anyone can tell you to pray through the hard times, but it takes a true believer in a relationship with Christ to truly trust Him. Evvie likes to say that if you’re not an active member of “Gym Jesus,” you have some things to work on. You must exercise your faith and be active in your relationship with Christ. Then, just like when you go to the gym faithfully, you see results. You will experience the results of a deep relationship with God.
You may not see them right away. There may be times you wonder if God is listening because He doesn’t seem to be answering, but things are happening, and God is at work. Then, when you hit rock bottom, like when Evvie only had enough money left for one month’s rent, all she could do was trust God.
Evvie said, “As a believer, rock bottom is the best place to be because you can’t do anything. All you can do is depend on God. God is so strong when we are weak.”
Paul explained when he asked the Lord to take away his thorn in the flesh in 2 Corinthians 12:9-10, “But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong” (NIV).
If you are at rock bottom, all you need to do is look up.
Look up to God and pray. And as Evvie explained, you must pray as Paul in his letter to the Philippians tells you to.
Philippians 4:6-7 says, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (ESV).
Evvie emphasized, “Pray with thanksgiving.”
“So, no matter what I’m going through. No matter how difficult it is, Lord, I thank You. I thank You that I know You are in control, even though it might not feel like it right now.”
You can find God’s peace amid the storm. Others may be running around in chaos, but you can focus on God and drown it out.
“The process is,” Evvie explained, “you have to pray with supplication AND give thanks. Drown out the chaos, pandemics, wars and rumors of wars and focus on God. He gives you peace that the world can’t give you. And you don’t even understand why you feel so peaceful. That’s how you get through the tough times.”