Peacing Out

Hello out there!  This post will be my Merry Christmas post since next Sunday I will be HITTING THE ROAD, JACK!  Unless I get super inspired this week to blog again (which probably will not happen since this is a busy week) I want to say Merry Christmas to y'all fans of mine still sticking around!  (Don't miss me too much, I'll be back before New Year's with a post reflecting on 2012.)

Well lately I've been thinking about the best gifts I've ever received.  When I was a little girl I might have said my favorite gifts were an American Girl Doll or a pretty princess dress.  Even a couple of years ago I might have said getting to see CATS for my birthday was the best gift I'd ever gotten.  But this December, after looking back over the past two years, and especially the past few months, I think I'd say something very different.  

Of course every good little kid in Sunday School knows the right answer to that question.  When their teacher looks down into their fresh faces and implores what their greatest gift is, a chorus of certain voices proclaim, "Jesus!".  And they're absolutely right, every one.  Jesus is our greatest gift.  Even the smallest of children know that, but have yet to understand it.  

When God sent Jesus to earth, He gave every one of us all we could ever need or ever ask for - He gave us a Savior.  And yet time and time again we turn to God in doubt, in fear, in worry, we question Him, we ask Him to give us things.  We don't stop to realize that He already gave us everything.  He gave us His word, He gave us the Holy Spirit, He gave us His son.  

I've grown up all my life hearing this story time and time again, but never has it filled me up so much.  Never have I been so full, so satisfied, so at peace.  PEACE.  Peace is really what I'm trying to get at.  Over the past year, and like I said before, especially these past months, I have changed.  I've changed so much I can't explain it.  And that is because for the first time in my life I have truly felt PEACE.  I've stopped asking God to change things, to give me things, to make things go away.  I've starting asking God to bring peace to situations, saying YOUR WILL BE DONE, asking Him to grant me peace.  God, if it isn't meant to be changed, bring Your peace upon it.  God, if You won't heal the pain, bring Your peace upon it. 

PEACE is the greatest gift I've ever received.  When you ask God for peace, you're not asking for everything to be right again.  You're not asking for the pain to stop.  You're not asking for YOUR will to be done, but for HIS.  You're just asking that you will find the strength and joy in Him in the midst of your troubles.  PEACE is the only thing I can possibly ask of God, because as I said earlier, He has already given us everything we need.  

And it's hard.  It's really darn hard.  And I am still so selfish and I still ask God for things I want and for things to go my way.  But the Holy Spirit is gently guiding me in the way of true peace and joy and contentment, and I pray peace upon all of you, so that you too can experience its beauty.

I hope and pray that this Christmas and this coming year, that you will be filled with the peace that passes understanding, and the joy that will inevitably come as a result.  Ask less and trust more.  Worry less and pray more.  Have a wonderful Christmas as we praise the God who gives us PEACE, who gives us JOY, and who gives us LIFE.

P.S. If you couldn't tell: PEACE was my inspiration this week;).

P.P.S. Here's your quote of the week:

 "Peace is not the absence of trouble but the presence of CHRIST." -Sheila Walsh

P.P.P.S. Hope this song makes you smile! :)