Having Peace Over HIS Plan

There have been many times in my life that I have prayed and prayed for peace over a decision I was having to make. I want to share one particular story with you that really changed my family's life forever.

When I was in middle school my mom had a miscarriage. That was a very hard time for our family and it was something that caused a lot of pain in all of our lives. It was a time where we sometimes found ourselves asking, "Why God?" However, we stayed close and we got through it together.
A couple years later, God started moving in my heart big time. Through a couple different circumstances the idea of adoption was put in front of me. My family had never talked about adopting, and I honestly had never really thought about it. However, the idea kept popping up in my everyday life. At the time, Steven Curtis Chapman had just released a song about seeing his first daughter for the first time in China. I began praying big time about this. I wasn't sure how my parents would react, so I prayed that God would bring PEACE into their hearts about this. When I first talked to them they were very surprised that I was bringing it up. It was somewhat random to them because like I said, we had never really talked about it. I began to explain what God had been doing in my life and told them about all of the things He had recently put in front of me pointing to adoption. After praying hard about this, I told them that I felt like our family was called to adopt from China. They said they would pray about it and that was pretty much the end of the conversation. A few weeks later, I asked my dad if they had talked about it again. He said they were still praying about it. I knew that it was somewhat scary to them because they were honestly still getting past the miscarriage. I finally confronted them one day and told them that God is giving us this amazing opportunity, and if we choose to ignore it He would move on. At that point, I think they really started praying hard about this. They began praying that God would give them PEACE about this and that they were making the right decision. A few weeks later, we started the paperwork and the journey began! 

My whole family traveled to China in March of 2006 and God changed our lives forever. We adopted my precious sister, EllaKate at 11 months old. She is now a beautiful 6 year old and she is such a joy in our lives! 

Well, the story doesn't end there, friends! Little did we know, God was going to keep working in our lives, and this time He spoke to my mom about going back to China. When she told us she felt like we should go back, we all were very surprised. However, we began praying for PEACE once more, and God provided it immensely! We began worrying about how we would pay for everything, but God took care of that too! He sent so many amazing and generous people in our life, and that continued to provide PEACE. In September of 2010 my parents and EK traveled back to China to bring home sweet ShayleeJoy! She has also changed our lives forever. She is the most tender-hearted little girl and we love her so much. 

Well, God STILL wasn't finished! Guess where my parents are right now?

They are in China again and they are adopting my little BROTHER, Will Perry. God had to once again bring PEACE over this decision for all of us. However, He did and I'm so excited to meet my brother in a week and a half. Friends, God is so good!!! Imagine if we wouldn't have prayed for PEACE over all of these decisions. Our family may not have been blessed with 3 amazing children.

Here is a picture of the "littles", as we call them~

As Christians, we are faced with so many hard things in every aspect of our life. With hard circumstances comes hard decisions and many times those hard decisions can cause much distress and worry. However, we were not called to live a life of worry. God wants us to be at peace always, and I believe that if we are constantly praying for God's guidance and PEACE in every decision we make, we will be filled with PEACE! I also know that when we are at PEACE with a decision, we find ourselves in the center of God's perfect will. How amazing is that?

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"Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid." John 14:27

"Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times and in every way. The Lord be with all of you." 2 Thessalonians 3:16

"And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:7

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Savannah

Fight fear with Faith = Peace

This past Fourth of July, I (Jessica) went kayaking down the Broad River with some of my family and a great friend of mine, Jen. I am not one to check the weather, and it definitely never crosses my mind to check it on a gorgeous day. About an hour into our trip on the river, it starting getting really dark and the clouds started rolling in. The next thing we knew it was raining and then the floodgates opened, it was pouring. We continued down the river because we thought it was just going to be a summer shower, turns out this was not summer shower, at all. As the rain poured down and the winds started picking up, I started to panic on the inside. A huge bolt of lightening struck in front of us, and that panic on the inside turned into screaming and yelling in terror. My heart was racing and the thunder rattled and boomed with great intensity. I was flat out scared to death. We all somehow made our way to the edge of the river and climbed up a steep embankment, and then the hail came that pierced and pounded against our skin. To make matters worse the winds were blowing so hard it was causing the trees to bend, which were nearly touching the river. We all grabbed onto one another scared for our lives, and as I sat helplessly I prayed with all my might that God would let the storm pass. After what seemed like hours, the storm finally did pass, I was in disbelief that we made it through the storm. Lets just say I will never forget the bang of that 4^th of July. EVER.

As I think about my thoughts of fear and feelings of helplessness in the storm I was caught in, I can relate to how the disciples must have felt in the midst of raging storm on the Sea of Galilee. In the book of Mark we find the story, 

“A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?” I was thinking that too as the hail beat down on my skin, I was begging for God to calm the storm because I struck by fear. During the storm Jesus “rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet, Be Still!” (4:37-39). 

So there you have it, Jesus with all his great power stopped the storm with no problem at all. We have to come to grips with the fact that He is always in control and He can calm any storm no matter how great we think it is. Jesus replied to the disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?” It is so important to realize that even though we do not always feel that God is with in the midst of the storm is really is right there with you, and the good news is that peace comes through him when we put our complete trust in him.

What is Holding You Back ?

What do you do when the messiness of life comes flying at you, which makes you feel scared, defeated, helpless? 

What happens when you are so stressed you feel like your suffocating? 

Or maybe your relationship is so messy you cannot find an easy way out?  

Does money seems to always be an issue, are you in the hole and that debt is piling up? 

Maybe someone has let you down and it has broken you into a million pieces, how do you overcome the sadness and anger you are feeling? 

Are you sucked into sin that you cannot seem to shake, is the temptation just too strong? 

I could keep going on and on because the Devil feeds us all this mess and He is good at it because He is trying to make you feel scared, defeated, and helpless!!! These feelings of fear is A LIE that the devil is pouring into you. I do not know why you do not have peace, but I do know that God can give you peace if you let him in on the situation. I know that you want the storm to pass because it is scary and it is painful, I have been in plenty of storms.

So I will lay it out straight for you, everybody STRUGGLES with something, but not everyone handles their struggle the right way. So you have got to get over your thoughts of my problems are too messy to fix, everything always goes wrong, or maybe you are event to point of feeling like there is NO WAY that God can bring you peace. Well I will say, if you keep on with those negative thoughts then yes you are absolutely going to continue to be in your hole of misery. . . keep playing your pity party game it will only get worse though. I have been in the midst of all the messiness before, and I thought because my life was unsteady and broken that it was not even possible to fix it, so I continued to shatter it more through continuous sin. Take this for it's worth, QUIT THINKING YOU ARE TOO FAR GONE and take action and responsibility over you life. I know the storms are brutal, but I am here to let you know that God will stand right by your side as you fight through it, just let him in and he will bring peace.

No, I do not have it all together and I still struggle, but I do have great God that I have it alltogether with, and he carries me through storms all the time. I seek him and pray with my everlasting might, and he follows through with peace every single time. Maybe you just are not even buying that God can mend your brokenness and bring peace into your life. 

Well I am living proof that God pours peace out freely to those who love and trust him. I was so caught up in sin that I could not see the light of what was coming at me next, I was just fighting for a breath in the moment of life to keep me going. I got fed up with the junk that I fueling my life with, it was ridiculous and I was a million light years away from peace. So I slowly started pulling myself from negative influences and surrounding myself with more positive ones, and with time God showed me that he was a forgiving and loving God and that I did not have to maintain the uneasiness of my life any longer. I let go and let God take control, and I am telling you from the bottom of my heart that I have never felt SO much freedom and peace in all my life. He wants you to obey and walk with Him in peace and we know we can find the truth in Jeremiah, 

"Obey me, and I will be your God and you will be my people. Walk in all the ways I command you, that it may go well with you. But they (Israelites) did not listen or pay attention; instead, they followed the stubborn inclinations of their evil hearts. They went backward and not forward." (verses 23-24 NIV)

I will leave you with this wise man,Oswald Chambers, words, “Then look up and receive the undisturbances of the Lord Jesus. Reflected peace is proof that you are right with God because you are at liberty to turn your mind to him. If you are not right with God you can never turn your find anywhere but on yourself.”

Challenge

Change your thoughts 

memorize truth, &

ditch the lies:

Quit throwing a pity party for yourself.

"He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the muck and mire; He set my feet on solid rock" Psalms 40:2 NIV

Obey God and believe he will save you from your situation.

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not own your understanding; in all ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight" Proverbs 3:5-6

Believe that you are an amazing person made by a GREAT GOD, who wants peace to be with you !!!

"Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid." John 14:27

Peace and Blessings,

Jess :) 

Because of His love and our faith...

I don't know about y'all but one of the things that I've really been having a hard time with over the last year or so is just having PEACE. I feel like I'm always planning my future and not living in the now. Up until recently I have just been in a place of discontentment. Just waiting for graduation. Just waiting to get engaged. Just waiting, waiting waiting. BUT WHAT AM I WAITING FOR? I only get one shot at this life and I would really hate to look back when I'm older and think to myself that I didn't fully live out my life because I was always constantly worrying about the future.

But what I've come to realize over the last few months is that God has my future, and he has yours too. We just have to find a place of PEACE and believe that He will take care of us. Because of His love and our faith in Him we can have peace. no matter where we are in our lives. even in the darkest, scariest, most awful times of our life we can have peace. One of my FAVORITE bible verses is in 1 Corinthians ch. 7 verse 17 [the message], it says "And don't be wishing you were some place else or with someone else. Where you are right now is God's place for you. Live and obey and love and believe right there." I'm not sure there could be a verse that paints a better picture for us about peace. 

Life is scary and hard and just plain dumpy sometimes.. but when your best friends with the God of the Universe you have peace that no one can take from you. 

So this week as you think about the areas in your life that you don't feel peaceful, remember this verse...

Be relaxed with what you have. Since God assured us, "I'll never let you down, never walk off and leave you.", we can boldly quote, "God is there; ready to help; I'm F E A R L E S S, no matter what. Who or what can get to me?"~Hebrews 13:5 [The Message]

and here's a little video for you that I think perfectly illustrates having PEACE in God's plan for our lives. "All of my life, in every season, you are still God, I have a reason to sing, I have reason to worship." 

Jamie

Keep Our Eyes Fixed

I hope y’all had a great weekend full of JOY.  I (Nicole) don’t know about you, but the statement about joy that Savannah’s husband made totally rocked me on Thursday.  Just in case you missed her post, here are Josh’s wise words.

“Joy is something that can’t be shaken by outside events.”

Whew, is that good or what?  Even though this week is all about peace, we have to keep building on the “fruits” that we’ve learned.  I think Josh’s statement leads in perfectly to our discussion about peace, the third fruit of the spirit.  What happens if we decided to choose peace BEFORE outside events shake us?

What happens if we choose peace SO THAT outside events don’t shake us?

I have always struggled with keeping my security in the Lord.  It seems that the smallest of circumstances can rock my unleveled foundation of peace and send me flying into a pit of fear.  The well known story of Peter walking on the water is a story that reflects instances in my life. 

I’ll give you a little context to the moment that is recorded in Matthew 14:28-31.  Jesus had just taken the five loaves and two fishes and fed a crowd of THOUSANDS.  Jesus then instructed his disciples to get in their boat while he went to pray.  The disciples went through a huge storm and when it was almost morning, they saw Jesus walking on the water.  Here is what happened with Peter…

Then Peter called to him, “Lord, if it’s really you, tell me to come to you, walking on the water.”  “Yes, come,” Jesus said.  So Peter went over the side of the boat and walked on the water toward Jesus.  But when he saw the strong wind and the waves, he was terrified and began to sink.  “Save me, Lord!” he shouted.  Jesus immediately reached out and grabbed him.  “You have so little faith,” Jesus said.  “Why did you doubt me?”

At first, Peter was eager to get out of the boat and walk towards Jesus.  He had his eyes fixed on him.  As Peter got out of the boat, he let his circumstances get in the way of his view of Jesus.  Aren’t we like that?  We say we trust Jesus and that we have peace in his plans, but then when the wind picks up and the waves rise around us we start to sink like Peter.  That’s been MY story.  I’ve let my fears and my situations get bigger than Jesus.  I’ve moved my gaze from Jesus to the rising waters around me. 

How different would our lives be if we kept our eyes fixed on Jesus?  What if we choose peace over fear?  Y’all, I can tell you one thing for sure; True peace will never come if we don’t keep our eyes fixed on Jesus.  When we keep our focus on Him, He will guide us EXACTLY where He wants us.  Will it hurt sometimes?  Yes.  Will we face scary things?  Yes.  Will He still be the God of the Universe?  YES!  Jeremiah 29:11 says that God KNOWS the plans He has for us.  They’re already written, already planned.  The only way we will ever find peace is if we LET GO of all control and hand it all over to him.  The more that we focus on the wind and waves in our lives, the smaller our God gets.  But, the more we focus on HIM, the more PEACE we will have.

Do you want to experience peace?

Here are some steps you can take:

-Ask the Lord to show you the areas of your life where you DON’T trust Him.

-Pray about these things and ask God to give you the courage to hand them over.

-Make an effort to realize when you are choosing fear over peace.

-Stay IN THE WORD!  His voice is there, his heart is there, his peace is there. 

Don’t be afraid to trust the Lord.  Have faith and get peace in return!

Love y'all!

Nicole