buildingbodies4christ

building on the foundation of Jesus Christ

Archive for the tag “Peace of God”

31 Dec 2019

Peace Beyond Understanding

When circumstances keep piling up from one thing to another, where do you turn for help? Over the last couple of months, I have seen circumstances change dramatically for several of my extended family members. One family lost their Mom suddenly; well, within 6 weeks time. The other family is in a battle that we all fear – cancer. Having experienced this myself, I know how their world can be rocked to the very core.

My Mom’s diagnosis ten years ago, will forever be etched into my memory. Devastation. Overwhelming sorrow. Shock. Questions of “what to do now?” seem to be unending. But right in the midst of the storm, peace. I told my Mom the peace I was experiencing and she too felt it. It was totally unexpected. Yes, overwhelmed with a sense of great grief, but peace in the midst. This peace transcends all understanding, as the Apostle Paul wrote to the Philippi church (Philippians 4:7).

To be at peace, no matter what happens, is just not humanly possible. It’s an act of the Holy Spirit. I experienced it during those next two months as my Mom succumbed to the natural order in which we are all called. We do not get out of this life alive, but we are appointed to die at least once. However, that was not the end of my Mom’s story; she lives today with the Lord!

With my extended family’s ordeal, I visited my beloved aunt and noticed her own peace beyond understanding. She has the unbelievable peace knowing this is not the end. She knows her eternal home. Her joy was evident when I was sitting with her. She tried to explain this peace to me. She said she felt Jesus right beside her and knew He was there in the midst of her battle. She said no matter if He called for her today or in nine months, she was ready. Peace beyond understanding.

As I turn to a new year in just a few hours, I wonder what 2020 will bring. As the year indicates, I hope it’s a year of vision. I hope I can see clearly – both physically and spiritually. It seems this last year has been one of darkness. I can’t explain this cloud that has hung over me but something has kept me from writing or even had the ability to sit quietly in the Lord’s presence. It’s been a tough year. I do not have bouts of depression. I have joy and peace most of my days. The darkness has nothing to do with me physically. I believe there is a battle in the heavens that is playing out here on earth.

2020 may be another year of darkness, but I am praying for the rays of God’s light to shine brightly through the darkness. The world has turned upside down and I don’t expect it to right itself anytime soon. With the tumultuous political climate we’re in, this year may be a difficult year for us here in the US. Maybe I’ll be wrong, but I believe we’re in for quite a ride. So be ready for it. Prepare for the battle – with prayer – so that you will be at peace no matter what happens. I ask for God’s protection from this darkness. And pray consistently for His help for our nation.

I hope you are ready for the battle because it’s coming whether we’re ready or not. It could be a personal battle like my Aunt’s or a national battle that affects us all. We all come to a battle we cannot face alone. But we have One who will be in it with us just as my Aunt has experienced Him there beside her. I know God has all things under His control. He has the time of all events – life, death, Jesus returning, or the daily battles we all face – He’s got this now and forever. I trust Him to complete the work He’s started – in me, in my Aunt, in this country, and in the world. And I know His peace is for each of us to experience – beyond our understanding – now and forever.

May God’s light shine upon you and His blessings flow in you and around you for this next year. Keep focused on the His will; be obedient to His calling, and let Him use you mightily for His Kingdom throughout this New Year. Let’s move forward with His peace in this new normal and let Him get the glory. Here’s to a new decade of fruitfulness! Happy New Year!

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:4-7

Advertisement
Posted in Faith and tagged , , , , , ,
13 Sep 2018

The Forecast

We have been watching and anxiously waiting for this storm for a week. Weather forecasters said it was going to be catastrophic. As I type these words, the wind has just started to stir the trees. The rain hasn’t started yet, but we know it will come. As the newscasters were commenting on the possibilities of the storm, I grew more anxious. When they started forecasting the storm, the path was coming right for me. Do I stay or do I go? But as I began to prepare, I felt more at peace with my decision to stay. The line is still uncertain. God is the only one who knows the path this storm will take. Rain and wind will come – that much is certain – it’s just a matter of how much. It’s a big storm and nowhere in this state will remain dry.

In the past, I have had leaks in the bathroom vent and in the front bedroom windows. My garage door also has areas the water flows through. The rain has to be at the right angles for these places to leak. I think I have fixed each place, but with the forecasted rain I’ll see how well the fix holds. I have prepared the best I could. I searched out bottled water, batteries and gasoline for the car. I happened to be at the right place at the right time to get those items I needed without too much waiting. Timing is everything, right? And the praying is nonstop. I have wanted to see God’s power again – I asked for it in last week’s blog posting. Do it again – that’s what I wrote. But a hurricane is not what I had in mind.

I asked God to send the storm to the middle of the ocean. God has allowed this storm to move closer. I asked God to calm the winds. This morning the hurricane is now a Category 2; down from a Cat 4. Thank you Lord! I have asked for God’s protection during this storm. He’s done that before. We had a tornado to rip through my neighborhood seven and half years ago. It was like God’s hand was placed over my house. I had very little damage where the rest of the neighborhood homes had some significant damage. Don’t get me wrong, this is not to say my prayers were better than my neighbors. I’m just saying God protected me in the storm. This is His house and if He wants to destroy it, then so be it.

There were other times when hurricanes have blown through my state. Every time, I have been outside of its devastating effects. When Fran blew through my city a little over twenty years ago, I was living elsewhere. Hugo had an impact on Charlotte a year before I moved to that city. Then there was Floyd and Matthew again hitting in places where I was not located. God has watched over me – not because of my goodness, but because of His. It has nothing to do with me. It’s just timing is everything.

I look to Him when I get anxious and wait for His timing. I never move until He tells me to go. Some say I need to just move and God will go with me. But I believe God’s ways are best. If He wants me somewhere specific, then I know He will get me there at just the right time. It’s not because of who I am, but because of whose I am. God has told us in Scripture – He will never leave us or forsake us – and I believe His Word. I believe Jesus can calm the storm – He’s done it before and I believe He can do it again. I don’t doubt that He can calm a storm; but it’s a matter of if He will.

As the tornado blew through the neighborhood, I was crotched in my closet praying on my knees to keep me safe. And He did. When I got up, my knees were shaky. I looked out my windows and saw trees down, but not a one on my house. God is infinitely powerful and deeply personal. I believe it. I have witnessed His hand of protection. And I believe He will do it again. But if He does not, His ways are best and I trust Him with everything. I am at peace.

My knees may shake when the wind drives the rain into my vulnerable places, but God is always with me. I can always lean upon Him – not because of who I am, but because of whose I am. You can lean upon Him too. He is infinitely powerful and deeply personal. Believe it and watch Him at work through your storm too. He is forecasted to be for us and not against us. That’s the path we can count on!

One day Jesus said to his disciples, “Let’s get in a boat and go across to the other side of the lake.” So they set sail. Soon Jesus fell asleep. The wind rose, and the fierce wind became a violent squall that threatened to swamp their boat. So the disciples woke Jesus up and said, “Master, Master, we’re sinking! Don’t you care that we’re going to drown?”

With great authority Jesus rebuked the howling wind and surging waves, and instantly they stopped and became as smooth as glass. Then Jesus said to them, “Why are you fearful? Have you lost your faith in me?”

Shocked and shaken, they said with amazement to one another, “Who is this man who has authority over winds and waves that they obey him?” Luke 8:23-25 (TPT)

Posted in Faith and tagged , , , , , ,
20 Jul 2017
2 Comments

Curve Balls

You just can’t tell when life will throw you a curve ball. Swoosh! Car accident. Swoosh! Fall off a ladder and break a leg. Swoosh! Someone you know dies suddenly. Those balls can come fast and furious. In every event, a new normal takes shape. Life continues on; we move on, sometimes slowly; but we go on. Things will never be the same again. However, nothing is a surprise to God. He saw it coming. In His Sovereignty, He allowed it to happen. He could have stopped it from happening. But for some reason, that “thing” happened. But God always has the last word on it.

I started this blog posting about three weeks ago. However, there was another word that was pressed upon me at the time. I woke up this morning with these words circling in my heart. You just never know when life will throw you a curve ball. What a difference a year can make or even a month or even more a day. The future is uncertain right now for me and my family. There is a season for everything, and the season is about to change. It’s a matter of when not if. A new normal is about to take shape.

Three weeks ago, my family celebrated my Dad’s 90th birthday. Today, he lies in a hospital bed. We don’t know the time when God will call any of us home. We just never know when things will happen that will change our future. Sometimes we ask why and we only get silence. We want life to be fair, but it’s anything but fair. We want justice, but there is no justice to be found. How can we live with this uncertainty with a peace beyond our understanding? Because of Jesus. When Jesus is in the picture, there is peace.

Peace beyond understanding. God is still Sovereign and on His throne. He is still glorious. His ways are still higher than ours. His thoughts still transcend ours. God still triumphs over evil – even when it looks like evil is winning. Whatever Satan has planned, God has a counter move. What Satan has planned for evil, God will make good out of it. It’s just the way God works. Satan can throw whatever he has at us, but when we have the peace of God, nothing will move us away from Him.

Satan will attempt many things to throw us off-balance. The curve balls can be his attempt to move us away from God. When we walk with Jesus, we are Satan’s target. Those curve balls will try to separate us from the only one who can keep us in the game. I heard a statement Tuesday night attributed to a singer who was questioned about Jesus being a “crutch” for all us Christians. The singer replied Jesus isn’t a crutch to him; Jesus is his stretcher. Jesus carries us. Sure we lean on Him, but it’s so much better when Jesus just picks us up and carries us through.

Levi Lesko wrote a powerful book written from a place of brokenness after he lost one of his daughters several years ago during the Christmas season. Right after they said goodbye to their precious one, Levi’s wife asked him to hand the hospital staff an invitation to the Christmas Eve service. In the midst of his pain, he handed the staff an invitation to make good out of a bad situation. Because of that invitation at a time when these parents could have walked away in their grief, they reached out and two of the staff came to know Jesus. Levi didn’t just lean on Jesus during that time. He couldn’t have delivered a message that would change people’s lives unless he was carried through it.

We never know how God will use the time of our greatest pain, but He will. We have to be open in those moments for God’s glory to come through. We have to be able to see the curve balls for what they are in this moment in time – God’s grace and mercy for such a time as this. There are hurting people all around us. Let us give them the gift of hope and let them be carried to the throne room of grace. Good can come out of a bad situation. Let God have the last word on it. And hit the curve balls out of the park, the game is already won but we can add to the number!

And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:38-39 (NLT)

Posted in Faith and tagged , , , , , ,
13 Jul 2016

The Anchor

As I was walking up the sidewalk to my church building on Sunday, I noticed two women coming out of the first gathering. They were talking with one another in a different language. Isn’t it amazing that we can all gather together no matter the language barrier and worship the same God? No matter the color of our skin, the language we speak, the culture we grew up in – God is God of all. He knows every one’s name; knows every one’s heart and He loves us anyway! God’s family is so diverse, and we can be a part of it. My local church body represents about eleven different nations under one roof. I find that amazing.

Contrast the unity I experienced on Sunday with the divisive experience we are having in this country at this moment in time. My perspective will be totally different than one whose skin is darker than mine. I cannot walk in their shoes. But that doesn’t mean I can’t have empathy and compassion for their struggles. I wish there wasn’t a struggle. I wish we could live like we’re supposed to live – as one who loves another – not as tolerant people, but ones who truly love one another and even love all our differences. Differences make the world go round. If we were all the same, how boring would that be? Yet, we were all made differently AND all made in the image of God.

It’s interesting that this week of all weeks I was studying “shoes of peace” in the Armor of God study. The week that has been without peace shows our greatest need of peace. But it will not come at the expense of removing guns from the hands of individuals – if one wants to kill, they can find any method available to do the job – sure guns are the most available and impersonal way of killing; but there has to be another way to solve the problem. The very simplistic answer is Jesus. He is the only peace we’ll find in the craziness of this world. And Scripture tells us, it’s going to get worse not better. There doesn’t seem to be much hope in the future, does it?

In Andy Stanley’s message on Sunday – actually it was an interview of sorts – he made the comment about the diversity in the early church. For the first twenty years, the early church dealt with a great deal of racial tension. Between Jews and Gentiles, slaves and freed men, and then throw women in the mix; it was just all kinds of tension going on. Jews did not associate with Gentiles on any level. The women were considered second class citizens. Before the early church even got off to a running start, God had to deal with the racial tensions, or else the movement would have fizzled from the start. Jesus elevated everyone to the same level.

Jesus had already addressed the idea of “clean and unclean” in a message to the Pharisees. The Pharisees were concerned with the disciples’ unsanitary eating habits. Jesus said it wasn’t what was on the outside that made a person unclean but it’s the heart that matters. The Pharisees had a heart problem, and it would keep them out of the Kingdom of God.

The heart is still the problem today. Nothing has changed much in 2000 years – actually since the beginning of time. We still have issues that need to be resolved; not through violence but through love. But nothing will change unless hearts are turned toward Jesus. Jesus told His followers that we will have trials and sorrows; it’s part of life. However, He came to give us a new life and a new hope. He is the only one who can give us peace. We cannot have peace of God if we do not have peace with God.

Apostle Paul likened peace to the shoes of a soldier. A Roman soldier wore sandals with knobs. It helped the soldier stand firm in the face of the enemy. Peace is our anchor; it holds us firmly in place when the craziness of the world around us feels off kilter. Jesus is the answer we seek to overcome the strife we find in this current world. He is our anchor in the storm. Peace is available for every individual who calls upon the name of Jesus. He provides what we need to calm the storms in our lives.

I wish we could all live in harmony now, but I know it is impossible through our own human effort. But what’s impossible for us to do, God makes all things possible. One day it will be different. Martin Luther King, Jr. had a dream. One day it will be realized. One day all things will be made new. That’s the hope of our future.

“I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.” John 16:33 (NLT)

Posted in Faith and tagged , , , , , ,
20 Aug 2014

The Perfect Place

Last week, I wrote about my love for waterfalls. I would love to live in a place where I had access to such natural beauty. Ideally I would have a view of mountains, a lake or a beach. When I was twelve, my parents and I moved to the North Carolina Mountains. When I went to college, my parents moved further into the hills of NC. Their house was placed amongst rhododendron with a small stream running along the back of the property. A waterfall provided the stream up the hill from the house which flowed beyond our house into a lake. You could sit outside on the deck with the sunlight filtering through in perfect peace. My parents eventually moved back down to the flat lands soon after I graduated from college. I didn’t appreciate those moments when I had them to sit in that perfect place in perfect peace. I was restless to move on.

I think I would be more creative in natural surroundings. I think my creative juices would flow best if I could hear the rustic sounds of nature just outside my door. Right now, I’m here in the midst of the blaring music, dogs barking and rushing cars flying down my neighborhood street. One day maybe I’ll pack up and move to a less hectic place. But where would I go? As I contemplate my perfect place, I realized as I walking my neighborhood one morning there is no perfect place. There is always something that would cause me some irritation.

I do not like critters – snakes, spiders, or crawling bugs invading my personal space. If I was at the beach, there would be all sorts of bugs encroaching on my territory. If I was at the mountains, there may be a few bears, lots of snakes, and other sorts of critters that would keep me in constant flux! Maybe if I moved to an island in the Pacific, I would find peace amongst the swapping palms; if the mosquitoes didn’t eat me alive. I’ve been to Maine and Alaska in the summertime. There are issues with bugs there too, not to mention the unfavorable weather for a hot climate girl like myself.

Maybe the perfect place is the place where I am right now. God gave me instructions to move here several years ago. Until I get direction to move again, I am in His perfect place. Every time I have moved in my life, God has given me opportunities in those new places to learn something about Him that I might not have known if I stayed where I was. Sometimes we have to move in order to grow. Sometimes in the midst of staying we learn patience and endurance. God has placed me in different places for different reasons. I can be content right here and right now because God has something for me to learn in this place and in this time. I can’t rush the process of learning. Is it perfect for my creativity?

My house may not be in the ideal place for my creativity. But I have made a place in my little area where birds are welcomed; where squirrels lounge on my deck; where flowers bloom and trees grow. I have a little space of quiet in the midst of a busy neighborhood. And God has given me peace here. No matter what my circumstances, I have found my rest in Him. I have found my perfect place. And it has nothing to do with my physical dwelling. I will stay in this place because I don’t want to be anywhere else a part from Him. I am resting in Jesus’ loving arms, feeling His presence and soaking in His peace. Thank you Jesus for being my perfect place!

The Lord is my shepherd;
I have all that I need.
He lets me rest in green meadows;
he leads me beside peaceful streams.
He renews my strength.
He guides me along right paths,
bringing honor to his name.
Psalm 23:1-3(NLT)

Posted in Faith and tagged , , , , ,
19 Jun 2013
2 Comments

Calm in the Storm

In the last few weeks, God has been pressing upon me about suffering, about pain and about storms. I don’t know why yet, but He is preparing me for something. In the midst of these impressions, I experienced a tropical storm named Andrea. My family and I were at the beach for our annual vacation. For the last twenty-three years, we have gathered at the beach under one roof to enjoy a time together and have a restful (so to speak) vacation. I look forward to those trips. Each year has been a different experience, and this year proved just as different. We have never encountered such a storm at the beach.

I experienced another tropical storm in Houston years ago. There was massive flooding and winds rocked the hotel where I was staying. I really didn’t get the full effects of the storm since I didn’t really go outside during it. The storm I experienced at the beach was completely different. My nephews went out to the beach in the middle of the wind and rain to see the waves. I stayed at home in complete safety until the rain subsided, and the sun was shining. I went out at that point to walk the beach. The winds were still active, and the waves were in turmoil. I held my camera as steady as I could while I was snapping pictures of the waves, and the sea grass bending in the wind. It was an awesome sight. As I was walking along, I had the sense of the wind to my back pushing me forward. But when I turned around, the winds were against me, and I looked up to see a dark cloud before me. I had no idea the cloud was behind me as I was walking along, but the minute I turned around I knew I wasn’t going to make it back to the beach house without getting wet.

It wasn’t until I was back at my home and was contemplating what God was impressing upon me that I found a new perspective on the storms in life. In the midst of the tropical storm I was experiencing peace – whether in the house or out on the beach. I knew God was right there with me. There was no time in the storm that I felt afraid, even during the night when the wind and rain were beating against the house. Whatever God is impressing upon me about suffering, pain and storms whether it’s on the upcoming mission trip or whatever happens next, God is with me in it. He will never leave me in the storm, but will offer me a sense of His peace. My eyes have to be focused on the right thing – not on the waves and wind – but on Jesus in the midst of the storm. When Jesus calls me to cross a great divide, He will protect me to get me to the other side!

One day Jesus said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other side of the lake.” So they got into a boat and set out. As they sailed, he fell asleep. A squall came down on the lake, so that the boat was being swamped, and they were in great danger.The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Master, Master, we’re going to drown!” He got up and rebuked the wind and the raging waters; the storm subsided, and all was calm. “Where is your faith?” he asked his disciples. Luke 8:22-25

Posted in Faith and tagged , , ,

Post Navigation