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For Friday, September 21: Peace IN

Peace is not the absence of trouble but the presence of Christ.  Sheila Walsh

I have great news!  Peace is the presence of God in your life!  And who couldn't use peace?  In this crazy, messy, tumultuous world we live in peace is something we all crave, whether we are aware of it or not.  And we can have peace even in the midst of trouble as Walsh says in today's quote.  "Impossible", you may mutter under your breath, "I'm in a world of trouble right now due to fill in the blank and I have no peace.  There's no such thing as having peace in the midst of crap."  My counter would be to inquire whether or not you know Jesus.  Because when you know him, I mean really know him, you will have peace and it will astound you and everyone around you.  I can say this because I have life experience that backs it up.  I can say this because God promises to be peace in our lives and he does not and can not lie so it is true.
So often we think that peace exists only when the waters are calm, so to speak.  And peace disappears when the water starts rippling and moving about.  Not so in my experience.  I have experience in the past few years that says otherwise.  I walked through a betrayal a few years ago.  It was big enough to make some ripples in my former workplace, the lives of friends and family, and me of course.  But through it all I had peace.  It made no sense, this peace I had.  People were confused, I was confused...but not.  I trusted God's defense of me.  That's the only explanation I have.  I trusted God would defend me as he told me he would.  And guess what?  For the short-term, as I was sifting through the betrayal, I had peace, quite amazing really.  And in the long-term my trust in God was realized as I was able to see him defend me.  And I had peace through it all.  (It was about a 4-5 year process...no joke.  Painful moments weaved all in those 4-5 years.)  So I'm here, on the other side of it, telling you that you can have peace because Christ is peace.
Don't look for him where there isn't trouble (although he is there also), look for him right in the middle of the trouble and that's where you'll find him and the peace you need.

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