All in the Name of Peace

Sometimes we get too comfy in our spiritual lives. We decide, wow, I've GOT this. This is no problem...

Once upon a time there was a lady who taught Youth Sunday School. She and her friend decided to teach their youth the Fruits of the Spirit. Every month they would pick a fruit and focus on it. Well, one month the word was joy. Well this lady had been taught about joy but she just couldn't say that she truly had experienced it. So she prayed that the Lord would show her in a mighty and powerful way the experience we call joy...He did and she marvelled at how wonderful true joy was.The next month the Fruit was peace. Now this lady had been a worrier all her life. She just couldn't figure out how to stop worrying but she knew that she couldn't have peace with worry. Because basically to worry means that we do not think that God can look after the details of our lives. If we worry, we don't trust the Lord. The lady knew that so she went to the Lord again and prayed that He would send His Spirit to show her what peace meant. He did. Almost immediately, her husband lost his job of 20 years, her son ended up in the hospital with an obsessed tonsil and her daughter got sick. But through it all the Lord gave her peace. She didn't worry how they would pay their bills. She didn't worry how they would do anything. She was truly trusting the Lord to take care of their needs and He did INDEED :)All was well but the lady got comfy in this feeling of peace. She thought she had it all figured out. Don't worry, trust and give it to the Lord. She did all this ...with the big stuff. She never even noticed the little areas where peace evaded her. She never noticed the moments of outbursts over bad school grades, the driver that didn't turn his turn signal on or the worse one, the person that didn't put their grocery cart away, grrrrr. The people in the grocery store that take over the whole aisle and don't seem to notice or care that you're standing RIGHT there!! Oh...I mean that SHE's standing right there.One night it happened. She had taken her son to a baseball game. This son who she watched the year before win games with his last minute catch and moments of hitting the ball so far it almost went over the fence...this same son was stepping out of the box, wouldn't even TRY to hit the ball, he was actually putting the bat down BEFORE the ball was past him!! She was so upset. She wanted this baseball thing for him for so many reasons! She was searching frantically for something that her son is good at that will keep him involved so that in the teenage years he'll have a focus. Something to put his all in, so maybe he won't be lead to girls or drugs or whatever. And those dreams of HERS were fading as she watched on that cold, hard, bleacher. On the ride home she and her husband talked to the boy to try and figure out why he had quit trying, what was wrong. He admitted that since he had been hit by a baseball he was afraid. He was afraid of being hit by that ball. The lady heard his words but inside she was angry and frantic. The exact opposite of peace BUT she didn't see it. All she saw were baseball dreams being dashed. All she saw was her son failing at something that she thought at one time he was so good at. All she thought was what am I going to do now?Well that night she did her evening devotion. Little Mrs. Comfy got a HUGE eye opener.

The verse was Matthew 6:25:"Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body what ye shall put on."

The devotion revealed alot to her but here's the part that REALLY hit her square in the face...

"It is not only wrong to worry, it is infidelity. Have you ever noticed what Jesus said would choke the word He puts in? The devil? NO, the cares of this world. It is the LITTLE worries always. I will not trust where I cannot see, that is where infidelity begins."

Wow, conviction just swept over her. The little worries were getting her and SHE DIDN'T EVEN NOTICE! The Lord had done HIS job but SHE was too comfortable in HER ability to have peace. She had stopped asking for the Lord's help with peace because she had it under control. We can do nothing apart from the Lord and we need to always remember to stay on our toes. Be diligent and keep our eyes open and peace is wonderful but don't forget the small stuff ;)

May God bless you and give You peace in ALL things.