Who Is YOUR Peace? // "I'm being caught."

When Dan left home after graduation from high school, I kept his cards and letters.  Hearing from him, especially when he was on the Marine fleet in the Middle East, was always a wonderful treat.  In one of them he said (approximately) that he would sometimes see his fellow-Marines all stressed out; but when he felt that way, he knew where to go for  peace. If only his shipmates could have even a drop of this peace...


                      I Am Your Peace

         Whisper in my ear, "My peace I leave with you." 

         Jesus, let me hear the words I need from You.
         While in this world, I can't escape its pain
         nor from its troubles run.
         But then You say, "Take heart! I am your peace.
         The world I've overcome."

Carve it on my heart, your covenant of peace.
Lord, it cost so much to sign and seal it for me!
Your nail-torn hands reach out to steady me,
to trace the pledge once more.
And then you say, "Take heart!  I am your peace,
who comes to heal and restore."

                                                
                                                       

Send its soothing waves, the river of your peace.
Pump it through my veins with every heartbeat.  Peace!
Your thoughts of love flow out to feed my soul,
to lift my head up high.
And then You say, "Take heart! I am your peace.
The final victory is mine."

                                           

Forge it in my life, the pathway of your peace.
Mark it clearly, Lord; cut through the thorns and weeds.
Oh, Prince of Peace...sometimes my footsteps fail...
it's so hard to go on.
And then You say, "Take heart!  I am your peace,
the Way that leads you home."

                        Whisper in my ear, "My peace I leave with you."
         *************************************************(lyrics to song by Becky Rhon)***

I've needed that peace desperately at times, and I'm sure you have, too.  Like Dan, I know where to go...to Whom to go.  Do you?  Remember that peace is not the absence of pain or trouble. God's peace comes when He holds us in his arms in the midst of the pain and trouble, and lets us know He's "there for us", ready to save, heal, teach, encourage...

Recently, my daughter and her family were with my sister during a meal, and afterwards their girls, Liliana (5) and Miriam (4), were running around my sister's chair as she tried to "catch" them as they went by.  Miriam got  "imprisoned" in her great-aunt's arms. (That makes her sound ancient!  Carol is only in her 50's.)  When Liliana told her she'd come to her aid and "bust her out", Miriam just stood there, snuggled further into Carol's arms and told her sister, "No! I'm being caught."  She preferred taking a pause in the game and just being hugged.

Jesus loves it when we pause in our day, take a time-out in the game, and just snuggle up to Him, feeling the comfort of His arms of love and grace around us...for as long as we need.  And He'll whisper in our ear, "My peace I leave with you." 
            
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