As you read this, may the shalom of God cover you, keep you and enlighten you as you move from glory to glory, from grace to grace. ~Briana Lassiter

I remember the first time the Lord told me that Shalom was not a location I would arrive at or something to achieve, it was a state of being.

As it usually happens when the Lord tells me something new like this, I didn’t get it.

When Jesus teaches me something, I like to know, “How does this practically affect my life, Lord?”

Over the next few months, He began to show me that Shalom begins with a series of choices.

It is almost an equation, x + y =? When x happens to y (you) what is the result?

I believe every situation we encounter is a mathematical equation. If you don’t understand the process of solving the equation, it doesn’t matter what you come up with, you’re not going to get the right answer.

However, if you know the process to solve the equation, it doesn’t matter what the variables are, you will solve the problem every time because you have the correct formula to solve it.

Shalom is our correct formula to solve every equation that comes our way in life. It is the process that gives the correct answer for every variable.

But what is Shalom anyway?

It’s kind of this weird word we hear thrown around a lot and we associate it with peace, but that’s really the most simplistic way to understand the word.

Shalom is more a mindset and less an emotion. Its meaning encompasses health, wellbeing, wholeness, completeness and rest.

Essentially, you can only enter Shalom by constant abiding in the Lord’s presence.

He is the source of all health, He delights in our wellbeing, He makes us whole and complete and He enables us to rest as we submit all our cares to Him.

Whenever I encounter something worrisome, fearful, or even just a life decision I don’t know how to make by myself, the Lord is constantly drilling into me that the answers will only come in the rest. And what that means for me is that I take myself into His presence before I do ANYTHING else, before a response comes out of me, and I make a choice.

I choose to fill myself with the truths about Him that enable me to live in Shalom.
If I am afraid, I focus on all the times He has saved me from fear, if I am anxious, I remember that He provides all my needs. If I am confused about what path to take I remember that wherever I go His goodness and His mercy follow me.

I let go of the reigns and give Him permission to do what He wants in the equation, and in that rest, the answers always come.

Friends, these are troubling times.

Shalom is not a quick fix. It is a lesson learned from Father to child, and it is always a choice to enter this state of being, this state of rest, this state of peace.

He will never force us to give over control or the illusion of control, He asks us to give it willingly and when we do, the force of rest begins to take over who we are and we find ourselves not saying the things we used to, not thinking in terms of fear and not functioning at half levels anymore because Shalom empowers us to live fully in the place of our promises.

If we choose to stay in His presence first, it will not matter where we walk or what disaster or fear comes against us, we will be able to be unflappable in the face of famine, death, disease, disaster or war because we have the formula to solve endless equations by abiding in His presence and letting go there.

So today, turn off the tv, stop scrolling Facebook and tune out voices of anyone not speaking Shalom.

Choose to say “Papa God, who are you going to be to me in this need, or that fear, or this worry?” And be blessed as you are released from the world’s system of reactionary response into God’s holy Shalom that empowers, replenishes us and meets our every need.

–Briana Lassiter is a wife, mother, blogger, and contributor to Ambo TV. This article originally appeared on the website www.icameforthesoup.com.