“Peace That Passes All Understanding”

“Peace That Passes All Understanding”

I remember a specific situation that comes to mind I wanted to share with you all.

Back in 2017, I had to quit my job at Hobby Lobby where I worked for five years. The reason was because I wanted to go on a missions trip to Thailand and serve there for two months. I dreaded telling my boss for I loved working there, but I knew it was time for me to move on. I finally told him, giving him two months notice so I could train someone in my department. I came home so relieved. My Daddy asked me, “Do you have peace now that you told him?” I thought about it and said, “Well, more like a ‘Thank God I got that out of the way’ type of feeling.”

So then I kind of panicked because I didn’t have this “peace,” so I went into my bedroom and closed the door. I started praying for peace that I did the right thing. After I was done praying I didn’t feel anything special. Then I felt God tell me to read that day’s devotion that I hadn’t gotten to yet. So I crawled up on my bed and found that day’s date.

The devotion read, “He comes where He commands us to leave. If you stayed home when God told you to go because you were so concerned about your own people there, then you actually robbed them of the teachings of Jesus Christ Himself. When you obeyed…no doubt that He teaches where He instructs us to go. He works where He sends us to wait.”

Then the peace came. I realized that God didn’t just give me peace because He wanted me to ask Him for it. It’s in Him we will found our peace. Sometimes it’s a peace that you can’t even explain to people. The kind of peace you can’t buy. The kind of peace that people ask if it’s risky? Stupid? Legit? Or even remarkablely unrealistic…this peace I’m talking about is peace that only comes from God.

Philippians 4:7 says, “And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.”

I’m reading a book about Amy Carmichael and she said,

“Blessed are the single-hearted, for they shall enjoy much peace. If you refuse to be hurried and pressed, if you stay your soul on God, nothing can keep you from that clearness of spirit which is life and peace. In that stillness you will know what His will is.”

Someone asked me when I was seventeen years old what I wanted to be when I “grew up.” I said, “A Missionary.” The adult replied, “Why don’t you just be realistic about life and pick something that people do.” As a young girl that hurt me hearing that person say that, but it didn’t stop me becoming what I knew God had in store for me whatever that was and still is.

Sometimes people want an explanation of why you do what you do. They don’t need one. You just need God’s peace about it. It needs to be aligned with the Word of God. He is the One that put it in YOUR heart and YOUR mind to achieve it. Not one person encouraged Amy Carmichael to become a missionary. In fact, so many doors kept closing that people were telling her that that must be God telling her not to go. As she was faithful to God, He was faithful to her and guided her on where to go throughout her life. And just look at the legacy she left behind. Why? Because she received God’s peace about it and became who God wanted her to be.

I want to encourage you today, my friend, if you’re struggling in knowing what God wants you to do in life, it’s ok. Every person has been there and always ends up back there again throughout life wondering what He wants us to do next. Go to your quiet place, wherever that may be, and ask God for His peace to come and fill you.

If you’re struggling where you are at, or even questioning God why He has you where He does, cry out for His peace. It’s something that can’t even be explained but only in your heart. Go where Christ is because that’s where there is peace. It’s a peace that surpasses all understanding. Questions will fade away when you’re in the will of God. Sometimes He just wants you to ask so He knows that you want it.