Life has a lot of chaos, doesn't it? But does it seem to you like people are even more stressed

out lately than normally? The further we move along the timeline of what the Bible calls last

days, the more we're seeing people who are operating in a constant level of distress. But is this

normal or is it just common? Do we have to live as if life is

ganging up on us and we have no way to stop it? How can we learn to stay calm in the chaos?

Welcome to Keep the Heart podcast with Francie Taylor. Francie is an author, teacher,

and conference speaker known for sharing biblical insights that are practical and inspiring.

Now back to today's valuable study.

You know, it's unreasonable to expect life to be free of trouble.

Job recognized this when he spoke these words in Job 5'7.

Yet man is born unto trouble as the sparks fly upward.

We're going to have things happen that weren't in our planners.

But if your life is one continuous stream of chaos, that's like a check engine light on the dash in your car. Something needs to be examined. Chaos happens, but it's not an operating system.

What is chaos, by the way? Well, an abbreviated

definition is confusion and disorder. We know it when we're in it, but sometimes we're not aware

that we may be making it worse. It is possible to disturb your own peace. Sometimes life has too much chaos because we're creating it.

At other times, life goes crazy because God is doing something and including us in the process

for our own learning and growth. But in either case, chaos does not have to become our operating system. Let's look at four

questions we should ask ourselves when life has too much chaos. Number one, is it self-inflicted?

Psalm 16, verse 2 says all the ways of man are clean in his own eyes, but the Lord weigheth the spirits.

Are we doing some things that are making our lives more chaotic? Have you considered, for example,

what are your priorities? When we have priorities that are in order, priorities help to restore order.

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