Peace.

(taken by my beautiful friend Sandra)

Life has been good lately but I will say it has felt a little chaotic.

Little things have happened to me to make it feel that way.

Its one of those times where I see and feel that the world and everything in it is way bigger than anything I am.

The things that I have complained about and felt pain over lately are kind insignificant compared to the rest of the things going on in the world and going on in other peoples lives…

my good friend Megan’s mom has been battling breast cancer and was in remission. She went to the doc for a check up and was told it had spread to her Lungs and lymph nodes etc.. (That’s something you can be praying for, for sure) It hurts my heart so much.

I listened to NPR on the way back to TN. I listened to people talk about the war for about an hour and nothing about it felt encouraging.

Later that night I got to read an article about some friends who were in a terrorist attack bombing in Africa. The grace of God is good though. All 8 of them are ok but saw some crazy stuff go on. You can read the story here. Praise God for his protection.

Now to add to it all I was also told a story about my friend’s friend who died last weekend. All of this came on me in the matter of 24 hours. With the knowledge of all this information I have a choice. A choice to be scared and in fear or to put my hope in the one who is in control of life itself.

Its not always easy, but I do know He is trustworthy.

I read a blog entry from a Campus Crusade staff member on Peace yesterday.. Here is a clip from Justin’s post.

^“3You keep him in perfect peace
whose mind is stayed on you,
because he trusts in you.

⁴Trust in the LORD forever,
for the LORD GOD is an everlasting rock.”

-Isaiah 26:3-4

When we trust in God, He puts our mind at peace (3v.). It is not a mental game, it is not New Age positive-thinking, nor is it a coping tool. When we truly entrust God with our lives, souls, day’s work, family life, dreams, problems, insecurities, past pain, fear, hopes, positions, speech, money, relationships, etc. He sets us at peace about it.

How does this work? The ancient Hebrew word ‘peace’ carries a different meaning than the meaning we commonly associate with ‘peace’ today. Today we see ‘peace’ as the absence of conflict. However, peace in this passage is the Hebrew word shalom, which means peace by experiencing the presence of God in your situation. Not the absence of conflict, but rather the overwhelmingly calm feeling of knowing God is with us regardless of conflict or problems we face. Life and circumstances will change, Verse 4 assures us God will not be changing, He is the Rock to trust in.

For we all know and have experienced, trusting in Jesus doesn’t just erase our issues, conflicts or problems. But when we trust Jesus in our problems, we do have the confidence that God is guiding us and with us to walk through those problems. Let us pursue shalom today.

(Here is his blog link)

Ok so that was basically his entire entry but I thought it was really good.

Today I have to have peace or the presence of God fill me when all else is coming apart around me. He is good. He is faithful. He is righteous. And He has overcome the world!

Oh and He’s coming back!!!!! :)

In this I rejoice today!

It definitely puts a smile on my face in the midst of the chaos.