Expounding on peace from my post on Monday, I want to encourage looking for the real and eternal peace, the peace of God. This peace is founded on the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. John 14:27 – “I am, leaving you with a gift-peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid.” NLT
Two of the critical elements of this peace from Jesus is trust and faith. You have to have faith in the words of Jesus and you have to trust that He keeps His word. When compared to the fragile and unstable peace of the world, this is the real thing. The peace of this world is not stable. Here today, gone tomorrow. The peace of God is never-changing and eternal. How can you question something unchanging and eternal?
Philippians 4:6-7 – “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.” NLT
Real peace takes commitment to Christ. Reading the word of God daily keeps me focused on Jesus. My peace is based on reading and knowing His word; trusting that He keeps His word; and, that He will bring it to pass in His time. Isaiah 26:3 says, “You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in You, all whose thoughts are fixed on You!” This is a promise from God and the promises of God are “Yes, and Amen”. He “will keep in perfect peace”. No question.
Are you looking for “real” peace?
It has been about two weeks again since posting. There is so much going on around me that I am taking things in stride. Of course, keeping my commitment to write to encourage others and share my journey as well as my testimony about the goodness and mercy of God wasn’t well received by the enemy. From the dog attack to other areas of spiritual attacks, I am here to say that God is still good and that He is the same loving God today as He was yesterday. His word still holds true and we just have to hold on. Had a meltdown yesterday and the Lord was still there, carrying me through. 
The elusive search began at such an early age. Without even a true understanding of the word, Dina had been searching a lifetime for this and yet all the time and effort, money and thought, it’s elusive quality still remained the greatest obstacle to overcome. Nothing she had done had acquired perfection. Dina had realized sooner than she wanted to that as well as elusive, there was no standard by which to measure perfection. She knew that God had so eloquently stated that because of our imperfection, He loved us anyway. Accepted us as we are. Why not? He created us.
However, by the world’s standard, perfection was real. The perfect job, husband, home, children and church. She had been searching for this since the age where perfection in beauty had claimed her heart first. Pam, her best friend, didn’t understand what all the hoopla was about. She had accepted herself for who she was at such a young age. However, Dina knew that Pam’s mother had had some real issues with Pam’s father. Not sure that is why Pam couldn’t get caught up in the hoopla. She was too busy focusing on the drama in the house. But, in reflection, Dina could see the calmness of Pam, there was a quiet peace she couldn’t put her finger on.
Pam had been a true cater-cousin. The intimacy they shared had been perfect. Pam had accepted her for who she was and as well, she had accepted Pam. They shared what they were experiencing at such a young age. The conversations ranged from everything about their families to boys and God. In reflection, Dina realized that Pam had found God early. She thought about the summer camp she had gone to with Pam. It was a Christian camp. It was fun but full of learning about living and working with others. Dina had not been into God when she was in her teens. However, Pam’s relationship with God had certainly put an aspect of God on her mind. Back to the perfection thing. Pam never tried to reach for perfection at any time that Dina could remember. Or did she? The quiet confidence Pam had spoke volumes even now. Though she had not spoken to her in quite a few years, Dina’s reflection continued between the two subjects, her best childhood friend and perfection.
Dina’s reflection turned to focus more on the perfection matter. When did she even start striving for perfection and based on what standard? That question boggled her mind at this time. She thought about how she was always comparing herself to someone else. The aspect of beauty she learned had been from magazines and television. Dina did not recall any conversations with her mother about what beauty was, whether real or imagined, true or false. She thought about what she had seen that was classified as beauty. The size eight, long hair, perfect makeup and trending couture was in the front of her mind at this time. She could afford none of those things. Being tall and somewhat gangly, the perfect size eight still did not fit her. Too skinny. And now: Big hips, big thighs, big lips and brown eyes. Not the picture that she compared to.
This is an interesting word of inspiration to write about. Understanding doesn’t necessarily mean agreement. Understanding does not mean acceptance. When you explain what you may be going through at any given moment, the person you are sharing with may nod in understanding. However, it doesn’t mean they agree with you. I understand how a child trained a certain way behaves because of the way they were raised. However, that doesn’t mean I accept that it is okay.
What do you see when you look out of your window? Gathering insight from the various bloggers on their view of their world, I thought this question would be thought-provoking regarding the world we live in and the current state of affairs. Do you see a world of hope or disaster? Do you see the hand of God moving regardless of what it looks like? Do you see the world as your permanent place or just a temporary place of residence? Do you see your part or role as significant in the world today? Do you see yourself helping others in this journey we are on? Do you see yourself as a vessel of God to be used for His glory? What do you see?
As I tossed and turned a little while attempting to sleep, one word seemed to resonate in my inner being. It was “resilient.” I have been thinking about this journey and the new aspects of moving forward as well as the best way to incorporate what the Lord is giving me to do now. Remember, my theme for this year is living in the “now.” First is the practical application of taking stock of my thoughts and dismissing the ones that are no good.