Peace Be Unto You

I was going to write about another topic but decided this one was far better given the Easter season and what has inspired me.

When Jesus came back after the resurrection, the oft phrase he used in greeting and leaving was "Peace be unto you." I won't be getting into the theological significance of that but instead a share one view of a personal experience I am going thru.

My journey the last year has been unique and interesting. I had and came out of one of the more significant relationships in my life. My tenacity and intellectual desire to fix what was not right came out in a big way. But something that needs to be fixed repeatedly is simply something that at best does not work and at worst is broken.

I learned that all that glitters is not gold. I learned that fast is not good.  I learned that ignoring my intuition is not good. I mistook desire and need for love. I learned that God indeed speaks to us and cares and that I finally had the courage to listen and act. I am learning to trust that what God has in mind for me is much better. I am learning by experience that 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 is true.

⁴ Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵ It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking,it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶ Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷ It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 

In the midst of this process, God was and is weaving something else for me. It was something I could not have foreseen. It is something that began and grew under the most unusual of circumstances and kept growing in the silence of my struggles. It is something that survived my grieving and eventual loss of my prior relationship.

It quite simply was a friendship that was blooming, and the peace that came from it as the value, care and freedom afforded it manifested itself was not anything I had experienced before.

No one knows what the future holds. But I am grateful that despite all my struggles this last year, that one strong and unwavering light still burns brightly. I am grateful that I can experience freedom and yet feel valued and wanted and supported. 

And most of all I am grateful that God is in charge and not I. May HIS will be done, and may you too surrender to HIS will and experience many precious and very sweet moments of peace. May they grow to be permanent no matter what the circumstances or what you are feeling at the moment. Because what he is weaving in you and in all of us if we trust and follow is Gold, a pure heart of Gold for HIS glory. Peace be unto you.