PEACE - by Sue Campbell

For the past few months I’ve been using a 1-year daily devotional for women – ‘becoming a woman at peace.’  I’ve tried in the past and not succeeded in making a regular habit of devotional time – but this book seems to be working for me.  It’s a page-a-day book beginning with a Bible verse and ending with a couple of lines of prayer.  In between, the author uses an anecdotal story – from her own life or someone else’s - and draws some insights from it.  The common thread woven throughout is working to have more peace. 

As I was reflecting after reading one day, I came up with my own acronym about peace.  Let me share what I’m trying to focus on:

 

                P – I’m a planner, but I know I gain peace when I’m prayerful 

                E – I want to be aware of the effect of my words and actions

                A – I want to affect others for good and for God

                C – Life goes better when I realize what I can control and what I can’t

                E – I have more daily peace when I focus on eternity

In Philippians 4:6-7, Paul writes:  “Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank Him for all He has done.  Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.”

Paul’s words are encouraging – if we’re obedient in telling God what we need and thankful for what He’s done, Paul says we’ll experience peace.  He doesn’t say that every problem will be solved, every plan will be put into play, every broken thing will be fixed…but we still will have peace. 

I can’t explain how that works – that’s the wonderful mystery of our God.  But I know I’ve experienced it and I’ll continue to strive for more of it each day.