Overflow of Peace

Jesus came to bring us peace in our daily lives as we fully trust and rely on Him and His love for us- a love that would die for us.

Life is filled with uncertainty, and change is inevitable for all of us. Change of job, a marriage, a divorce, an illness, relationships, death, birth, moving… Ecclesiastes tells us that there is a time and season for everything, nothing stays the same. And from our worldly view change often brings the opposite of peace. It brings uncertainty, chaos, letting go of the old, stepping out into the new. Change can be very hard. Our first response is to control everything; the process, the outcome. If we can just keep control everything will turn out ok; at least we think. Once things start to go differently than we have planned we are sent into panic.

The only way to maintain peace is by keeping our eyes on Jesus.

 James 1:17 assures us that God “does not change like the shifting shadows.”

Hebrew 13:8, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.”

John 14:27, Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

As the world tells us we can have peace by keeping all the control ourselves, by controlling our surroundings, Jesus tells us that peace comes as we surrender all control to Him, despite the change in our circumstances. Surrendering control to Jesus is the proof of our faith. Trusting that His plan is best, that He is all-powerful and mighty to save. He promises that His plan is to give us a hope and a future.

     Prayer and constantly going to Scripture for reminders of God’s attributes is crucial to keeping peace in my heart, mind and life. As I am reminded that my God is All-powerful and mighty- He holds the stars in their place, He created the heavens and the earth, He created me. I stand before Him in fear and trembling, not because I am afraid but because I am in complete awe of Him. I also stand before Him as my loving Father who desires the best for me, He guides and protects me, and my life is laid out before Him.

     As I look back over my life it is very evident that God has been with me every step of the way. As promised, He has never ever left me or forsaken me.  Scripture tells me that He knit me together in my mother’s womb. Stitch by stitch He lovingly created me. He has blessed me with gifts and talents, He has guarded and protected my life, He nudges me back to Him whenever I lose focus. I have seen Him actively working throughout my life. And also in the lives of my family through the years.  

I have a big change heading my way soon, and on my own I do not handle change well.

 My oldest son is getting ready to head off to college next fall. My home will change, my role will change.  I must trust God with this change; this new path I am on.

I must also trust Him with the path set out for my son. I must remember that God created my son as well; He knit him together with a perfect plan and purpose. God alone knows exactly where my son is supposed to attend college. Scripture says that I am to “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.”  This means I am supposed to train my boys up to follow the Lord, even if they stray at some point in their lives, God is faithful and He will call them back to Himself. I am also to be guiding my children in the path the best fulfills God’s plan and make up of how He has made them. He has gifted each of my boys wonderfully and uniquely, they are not to be cookie cutters of me or my husband. I am to guide them to fulfill God’s desire above my own.  He knows which school will best suit His purpose for his life, which path He has created him for. I have complete peace with where my son will end up and fortunately my son does too. We are trusting and praying that God will reveal and make His college choice very clear to us. Not my will be done, but Yours Father. Just as God has gotten my son to this place in life, He will continue to be with my son through this new adventure. I have a peace that passes understanding about where my son will go, because I know our Father will guard and protect him and use everything for my son’s ultimate good and God’s glory.

      The part I will need to most work on for peace is the change in my own life; change in dynamics, the empty bedroom. I know though, that God will fill the space in my heart while my son is away. I will cling to the Lord and come to Him often in prayer; I will praise God for His faithfulness; and I will eagerly await those holiday vacations when my son comes home to visit.

2 Thessalonians 3:16, ¹⁶ Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times and in every way. The Lord be with all of you.

Philippians 4:6-7,  Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. ⁷ And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Isaiah 26:3, You will keep in perfect peace
him whose mind is steadfast,
because he trusts in you.

No Secret

As the mother of two boys ages 18 and 15, I am sometimes asked what has helped me throughout my parenting the most. I mention a few ideas, but always the top of my list is prayer. Sometimes I get the response of a chuckle, like “No, what’s the real secret?” Actually it is not a secret at all. Prayer is available to all. I love it! It means I don’t have to parent or do any aspect of life on my own strength or power. I don’t send up wishes that just get blown along in the wind; mine always turn into prayers to a real God, who really hears me. I don’t try to generate positive energy on my own; I ask God guide and direct my path, and that is always a positive thing! He is my ever-present help; He is my Comforter, my Counselor, and my Savior. He knows my life and the lives of my children better than I do. I seek His face to know His will for us, and then I follow His lead. I teach my kids to seek God for themselves too. My priority for my family and myself is that we are walking hand in hand with God; the rest falls in line after that.

3 John 1:4, I have no greater joy than to know that my children walk in the Truth.

Matthew 6:33, But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

 Philippians 4:6, Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

Psalm 25:4-5, Show me your ways, O LORD,
teach me your paths;
⁵ guide me in your truth and teach me,
for you are God my Savior,
and my hope is in you all day long.

Understanding Love

We have all witnessed and experienced love in many ways. We have seen it through the enduring love shared between grandparents or parents. We have observed it in the kindness of one stranger toward another. We have felt it through the care of our own parents, relatives and friends toward us. A kind word, a loving gesture, a warm hug, a reassuring and comforting hand hold, a tender kiss, and countless other ways show us the evidence of love.

I wrote the following story a few months back, but would like to share it with you now.

                True love is, putting someone before your self. It means loving them unconditionally through thick and thin, through peaceful times and times of adversity. It means loving them so much that you let them grow and be who they are supposed to be. Fully loving means fully investing a part of your self in another person. For me the greatest understanding of love, true love, came through the birth of my two sons. Having children of my own brought me to live outside myself. It completely changed my focus and priorities. For me it was a huge blessing from God, to have these precious boys so fully dependant on me. Their well- being became my primary purpose. True love is selfless in nature. It puts the other person first. Their wants and needs, their comfort and happiness took precedence over my own. True love overlooks difficulties, obstacles, tiredness, tantrums, etc.

            Sacrifice is a huge part of true love.  Our sons are 2 years 9 months apart, to the very day. When the boys were babies and toddlers they needed me constantly. I spent many sleepless nights tending to my babies (and I enjoy my sleep). One night when our first son was about 10 months old we woke up to a really weird noise coming from his room. I got out of bed and went to check on him. He was up on his hands and knees gasping for air. He sounded like a barking seal. Now this is horrifying for any parent, but especially for first timers. Many parents know about croup, but we were new to the illness.  As my husband and I got ready to take our baby boy to the hospital, I remembered hearing somewhere that cold night air was good for breathing problems. So as my husband backed the car out, I stood on the driveway with out little one. We were both so distraught with worry. We drove with the windows down all the way to the hospital. This seemed to open his airways quite a bit and ease the struggle to breathe. We made it to the hospital and they gave our baby a breathing treatment till he was well enough to go home. The croup continued to be a nighttime problem every time our son came down with a cold. Fortunately the doctor said he would outgrow it little by little as he and his airways grew. There were many nights of sitting on the front porch with our son wrapped in a blanket or sitting on the toilet with the shower streaming. This, I found out was the recommended treatment for a croup attack. These were alarming yet tender moments for me. I wouldn’t have traded holding my son on the cold front porch for all the cozy beds in the world.

               As our boys were growing my role as mom didn’t change, but the way it looked did change a bit. Little by little I have had to take a step back, letting them have space to grow and become their own individual person. I love them so much that I want to keep them young and dependant on me, but I also love them so much that I know I must let them become independent. Each stage they have gone through has tugged on my heartstrings. I can honestly say I have enjoyed every step of the journey. My heart has joyfully skipped a beat with theirs’ and my heart has broken right along with theirs’. True love has great empathy for the other person. You not only sympathize with them from the outside. You are actually pulled into their circumstance and feel the very things they are feeling.

          Each of our sons had a very different first day of preschool experience. Our older son cried for the first couple of weeks when I dropped him off. My heart broke as I saw how upset he was. At first I would sit with him on the floor in his class while he got settled in. Then the time came when the teacher suggested I try leaving him.  The teacher reassured me that the crying would stop soon after I left. It was hard for me to leave, but he did survive. He quickly adapted and has been an eager student ever since. Our younger son had a different response to his first day. He walked into the class, gave me a quick hug and said goodbye. He then happily went to join his new classmates on the rug to play dinosaurs. I stayed around outside long enough to watch him come out of class and head to the playground for his first time. As I watched from a distance he hopped on a little scooter and began pushing himself along. I can still picture the outfit he wore and his curly blond hair. A little piece of my heart went to preschool with each of my sons.  

          Our sons are now 14 and 17. One will begin his freshman year of high school in a few weeks. The other will begin his senior year.  We have just returned from a college tour that took us all the way across the country. Where has the time gone? Throughout the years there have been many times to celebrate with my sons as well as times of disappointment to comfort them through. All I know is that my heart definitely feels connected to theirs’.  As each year passes we all grow and change, but one thing never changes… I love them immensely.

              As each son leaves and goes to college in the next few, I know a piece of my heart will be wherever they are. 

All the ways we witness and experience love is directly from God above. He is love and all love flows from Him.

John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

1 John 4:9- 12,  This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. ¹⁰ This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for^[ our sins. ¹¹ Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. ¹² No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

1 John 4:16, And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.

1 John 4:19, We love because he first loved us.