Where Is Peace?

Peace.

We all want it … but where is it?

Can you buy a piece of peace at the store? Or perhaps on Amazon Prime?  Is there such a thing as “Prime Peace”?!

Is there enough peace to go around?  Can everyone be peaceful at the same time?

Or is there only a certain amount of the commodity known as “peace” and once it is gone it is gone?

Is peace a reward for winning a race? Or for making your mark in life?

I know … maybe you finally become an expert in peace once you achieve a certain level of prestige, accomplishment or success in life.

“In peace I will lie down and sleep, for You alone,

Lord, make me dwell in safety.” – Psalm 4:8 

Where is peace?

Is peace found in a bouquet of flowers … or under the Christmas tree … or in a marriage certificate?

Is more peace available when the kids finally leave home … with a good doctor’s report … or by making a certain salary?

I have often felt that peace plays hide and seek with me … it hides and I seek.

Sometimes I find peace … but sometimes I don’t.

I need peace … I want peace … but where IS peace?!

“If God be our God, He will give us peace in trouble. When there is a storm without, He will make peace within. The world can create trouble in peace, but God can create peace in trouble.” - Thomas Watson

Would you consider me your “Peace Coach” today? 

Could I come to you with years of experience as an ordinary woman who has indeed discovered how to live a life of unmatched peace? 

Would you listen, if I shared with you, some ways that I have been able to embrace the intangible yet very significant gift of peace?

“Seek peace and pursue it.” – Psalm 34:14

My life has been far from perfect … I have climbed some mighty high and rugged mountains in my life … crossed the desert of depression more than once … and wrestled with people, finances and events more than I care to remember.

But, now, today … as a woman in her mid-60’s … I know where peace is.

I know how to find peace and how to live with peace.

For me, it all boils down to six simple, yet difficult choices.

First of all, remind yourself often that you choose your attitude. Paul actually said, in II Corinthians 12:10, “For Christ’s sake I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties.”

You choose how to respond to the unwelcome events that invade your life. 

Paul chose to be delighted in the middle of the mess of earthbound living.

I’m with Paul on this one … I will choose a heart attitude of delight because I know Christ.

Real contentment must come from within. You and I cannot change or control the world around us, but we can change and control the world within us. -  Warren Wiersbe

The second choice that I must make on the roadway to peace is that I must offer my pain to my loving Father.

I must give Him my sorrows … my disappointment … and my deep discouragement.

I must trust that when I give Him what has caused me unremitting pain that He is able to bring good out of it.

The great exchange happens in this place of relinquishment … my sorrow for His joy and my pain for His peace.

“I will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Me

because He trusts in me.” – Isaiah 26:3

The third choice in which I must engage myself is that I must be willing to receive what God is giving to me.

I must receive that very thing that I am unable to change.

I must remind myself daily that nothing happens in my life without God’s permission.

God isn’t asking me to figure anything out … He is asking me to trust that He already has.

I must say what Christ has said in the awful Garden of Gethsemane, “Not my will, but Your will be done, O Father.”

A born-again person ought to possess unspeakable peace in the spirit.

- Watchman Nee

The fourth vital choice is to choose Him … again and again and again.

When I am afraid … I choose Christ.

When I am discouraged … I choose Christ.

When I am weakened … I choose Christ.

When I am alone … I choose Christ.

I have held many things in my hands, and have lost them all; but whatever I have placed in God's hands, that I still possess. - Martin Luther

The fifth magnificent choice is to praise Him no matter what! 

I don’t worship the Lord because of my circumstances but I worship Him in spite of my circumstances.

I don’t praise the Lord because I am happy … I become happy when I praise Him! 

This is not pretense … but it is genuine, heartfelt worship of the One who loves me, has forgiven me, has died for me, and who has risen again!

My circumstances will never mute the praise song that I was born to sing!

And finally, the sixth choice is one that I learned from reading the works of and listening to the teaching of Elisabeth Elliot.

The sixth choice is to do the next thing.

I don’t allow discouragement or disappointment to choose my actions … but I simply choose to do the next thing.

I keep right on loving my family … reading my Bible … and tithing.

I keep encouraging people … going to church … and making healthy meals.

I keep going for walks … writing sweet notes … and listening to worship music. 

I keep smiling at strangers … smelling the flowers … and giggling with children. 

I keep cooking healthy meals … calling my mom … and reading a good book.

I keep on doing the next thing.

You know, there is nothing instant about any of this but there is truth in all of it.

And I choose it … one day … one step … one choice at a time.

And what do I receive in return?

I am miraculously able to tap into the peace that passes understanding … I am given the peace of Christ. 

“I am leaving you with a gift – peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid.” – John 14:27

Thanks for listening to my heart this week.  As you know by now, my heart is truly not a perfect heart but it is a heart that is filled to overflowing with gratitude for the life I have been given and for the people who walk with me.  And, it continues to be a heart that is relentlessly chasing after God and all that He is!